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V 

SHAKESPEARE'S TRAGEDY OF 



HAMLET 



A study for Classes in English Literature 



BY 



CARROLL LEWIS MAXCY 



^3^^ 



lyC- 



BOSTON, U.S.A. 

GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 

1892 






Copyright 1892, 
BY CARROLL LEWIS MAXCY. 



All Rights Reserved. 



Typography by J. S. Cushing & Co., Boston, U.S.A. 



Presswork by Ginn & Co., Boston, U.S.A. 



TO 
My life-long Friend 

STJe 3^e&. Eouts Norman '^mt% 

this little volume is dedicated 

as a token of respect 

for his broad scholarship, and his deep appreciation 

of Classic Literature 



PREFACE. 



Until recently, Shakespeare's plays have been taught like 
Caesar's Commentaries and Xenophon's Anabasis ; in many 
cases with the same unfortunate result. The young student 
of Shakespeare, unless gifted with a phenomenal appreciation 
of historical research and critical analysis, has been brought 
to regard the works of the poet as a schoolroom bugbear. 
As in the study of the ancient classics, so in the classic Eng- 
lish, the main object — if indeed not the sole object — has 
been critical notes, notes, always notes, until, save for mechan- 
ical purposes, the text might have been omitted and not 
missed. 

Lately, however, with the inquiries into methods and prin- 
ciples of teaching, there has come the realization that this sys- 
tem is wrong, — and harmful as well ; that the young student 
of Shakespeare is not to " cram," for examination purposes, 
data about the early editions, but that he is to learn to love 
the writings of the poet for their own sake. 

This new system of teaching Shakespeare has been advo- 
cated by eminent authorities in this country and in England, 
and it has been found successful in practice. It is to further 
this method and to present, in a tangible form for study, 
questions on the text, that the following pages have been 
prepared. 

How are we to read a play of Shakespeare ? Richard Grant 
White says : " The way to read Shakespeare is — to read 



vi PREFACE. 

him. The rest follows as a matter of course. If, not having 
read before, you read anywhere, you will know a new delight ; 
you will read more ; you will go on ; in your eager reading 
you will consume the book. Having read all, you will read 
again, and now will begin to ponder, and compare, and ana- 
lyze, and seek to fathom ; and having got thus far, you will 
have found an occupation which hghts with pleasure the 
whole of your leisure hfe. This seems to me to be the natu- 
ral way of reading Shakespeare." 

Let the student follow this plan ; let him throw to the 
winds every commentary, every note, every recollection of 
any stage-presentation which he may have seen. Then let 
him follow the advice of Professor Ransome in his admirable 
" Short Studies in Shakespeare's Plots," — " The work in hand 
should first be read through as a whole, and the students 
taught to ask themselves at the end of each scene . . . the 
following or similar questions : ist. What has this scene done 
to advance the story? 2d, What light has been thrown by it 
upon the characters of the persons concerned? 3d, What 
light has been thrown upon the circumstances under which 
the events which form the plot took place ? " 

The questions here presented, collected from actual class 
work, as well as from the writings of others, — have been 
arranged with the purpose of bringing out the development 
of the plot and emphasizing those points of the great tragedy 
which are most frequently discussed. It is beheved that a 
class which has accomplished the work in the manner sug- 
gested, will not only be able to converse intelligently upon 
the play, but will have read it with interest and pleasure. 

At the close of each act are " Observations," taken from 
various sources and bearing upon the plot. The object of 
these is to bring out points which could not be brought out 



PREFACE. vii 

in the questions and, in some cases, to furnish hints for the 
answers of certain questions. Some of the most famihar 
passages in " Hamlet " will be found after the respective acts 
wherein they occur. Every student should be famihar with, 
at least, a portion of them. 

After the regular series of questions, are additional and 
general questions upon the play. They are of a more diffi- 
cult character, and are for those making a rather deeper 
study of the play than frequently is required. It is intended, 
however, that the great majority of the questions should be 
of such a character that they may be answered from a study 
of the text. 

At the suggestion of teachers of experience, a few explan- 
atory notes have been appended to each act. In them, all 
grammatical and critical references have been carefully 
avoided. The sole purpose has been to aid the student in 
understanding what might otherwise have been unintelligible. 
In cases where the meaning of unfamiliar words or phrases 
has seemed to be implied from the context, no note has been 
added. In those instances where the questions are answered 
neither in the text nor in the " Observations," it has been 
deemed better to leave the teacher to suggest their bearing, 
by judicious questions of his own, than to burden the work 
with additional explanatory notes. It is the author's opinion, 
that, in view of the purpose of the work, — thoughtful study 
on the part of the student, — it is better to err upon the side 
of a paucity rather than of a multiplicity of notes. 

CARROLL LEWIS MAXCY. 

Troy Academy, November, 1891. 



HAMLET, 
PRINCE OF DENMARK. 



courtiers. 



DRAMATIS PERSONS. 

• Claudius, king of Denmark. 

• Hamlet, son to the late, and nephew to the present king. 
. POLONIUS, lord chamberlain. 

• Horatio, friend to Hamlet. 
'Laertes, son to Polonius. 

voltimand, 
Cornelius, 
Rosencrantz, 
guildenstern, 

• OsRie, 
A Gentleman, 
A Priest. 

• Marcellus, 1 _ 

^ \ officers. 

Bernardo, J 

Francisco, a soldier. 

Reynaldo, servant to Polonius. 

Players. 

Two Clowns, grave-diggers, 

FORTINBRAS, prince of Norway. 

A Captain. 

English Ambassadors. 

' Gertrude, queen of Denmark, and mother to Hamlet. 
' Ophelia, daughter to Polonius. 

Lords, Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, Sailors, Messengers, and 
other Attendants. 

Ghost of Hamlet's father. 

Scene : Denmark. 



HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK. 

ACT I. 

Scene I. Ehinore. A Platform before the Castle. 
Francisco at his post. Enter to him Bernardo. 

Bernardo. Who's there ? 

Francisco. Nay, answer me : stand, and unfold yourself. 

Bernardo. Long live the king ! 

Francisco. Bernardo ? 

Bernardo. He. 

Francisco. You come most carefully upon your hour. 

Bernardo. 'Tis now struck twelve ; get thee to bed, Fran- 
cisco. 

F7'ancisco. For this relief much thanks : 'tis bitter cold. 
And I am sick at heart. 
k"* Bernardo. Have you had quiet guard ? 

Francisco. Not a mouse stirring. lo 

Bernardo. Well, good night. 
If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, 
The riyals of my watch, bid them make haste. 

Fra7icisco. I think I hear them. — Stand, ho ! Who's there ? 

Enter Horatio and Marcellus. 

Horatio. Friends to this ground. 

Marcellus. And liegemen to the Dane. 

3 



4 HAMLET. [ACT I. 

Francisco. Give you good night. 

Marcellus. O, farewell, honest soldier : 

Who hath relieved you ? 

Francisco. Bernardo has my place. 

Give you good night. \Exit, 

Marcellus. Holla ! Bernardo ! 

Bernardo. Say, 

What, is Horatio there? 

Horatio. A piece of him. 19 

Bernardo. Welcome, Horatio : welcome, good Marcellus. 

Marcellus. What, has this thing appear'd again to- 
night ? 

Bernardo. I have seen nothing. 

Marcellus. Horatio says 'tis but our fantasy, 
And will not let belief take hold of him 
Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us : 
Therefore I have entreated him along 

With us to watch the minutes of this night, *>-" 

That if again this apparition come, ^iX^I^^*^'^-'^'"'"^ 

He may approve our eyes and speak to it. ^'■''^"^ 

Horatio. Tush, tush, 'twill not appear. 

Bernardo. Sit down awhile ; 30 

And let us once again assail your ears. 
That are so fortified against our story. 
What we have two nights seen. 

Horatio. Well, sit we down, 

And let us hear Bernardo speak of this. 

Bernardo. Last night of all. 
When yond same star that's westward from the pole 
Had made his course to illume that part of heaven 
Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself, 
The bell then beating one, — 



SCENE I.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 5 

Enter Ghost. 

Marcellus. Peace, break thee off; look, where it comes 
again ! 40 

Bernardo. In the same figure, like the king that's dead. 

Marcellus. Thou art a scholar ; speak to it, Horatio. 

Bernardo. Looks it not like the king? mark it, Horatio. 

Horatio. Most like : it harrows me with fear and wonder. 

Bernardo. It would be spoke to. 

Marcellus. Question it, Horatio. 

Horatio. What art thou that usurp'st this time of night. 
Together with that fair and warlike form 
In which the majesty of buried Denmark 
Did sometimes march ? by heaven I charge thee, speak ! 

Marcellus. It is offended. 

Bernardo. See, it stalks away ! 50 

Horatio. Stay ! speak, speak ! I charge thee, speak ! 

\Exit Ghost. 

Marcellus. 'Tis gone, and will not answer. 

Bernardo. How now, Horatio ! you tremble and look pale : 
Is not this something more than fantasy? 
What think you on't? 

Horatio. Before my God, I might not this believe 
Without the sensible and true avouch 
Of mine own eyes. 

Marcellus. Is it not like the king? 

Horatio. As thou art to thyself : 
Such was the very armour he had on 60 

When he the ambitious Norway combated ; 
So frown'd he once, when, in an angry parle, q,. 
He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice. 
'Tis strange. 



\ 



6 HAMLET. [ACT I. 

Marcellus. Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour, 
With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch. 

Horatio. In what particular thought to work I know not ; 
But in the gross and scope of my opinion, 
This bodes some strange eruption to our state. 

Marcellus. Good now, sit down, and tell me, he that 
knows, 70 

Why this same strict and most observant watch 
So nightly toils the subject of the land, 
And why such daily cast of brazen cannon, 
And foreign mart for implements of war ; 
Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task 
Does not divide the Sunday from the week ; 
What might be toward, that this sweaty haste 
Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day : 
Who is't that can inform me? 

Horatio. That can 1} 

At least, the whisper goes so. Our last king, 80 

Whose image even but now appear'd to us. 
Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway, 
Thereto prick'd on by a most emulate pride. 
Dared to the combat ; in which our valiant Hamlet — 
For so this side of our known world esteem'd him — 
Did slay this Fortinbras ; who, by a seal'd compact, 
Well ratified by law and heraldry. 
Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands 
Which he stood seized of, to the conqueror : 
Against the which a moiety competent 9° 

Was gaged by our king ; which had return'd 
To the inheritance of Fortinbras, 
Had he been vanquisher ; as, by the same covenant, 
And carriage of the article design'd, 



SCENE I.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 7 

His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras, 

Of unimproved mettle hot and full, 

Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there 

Shark'd up a list of lawless resolutes. 

For food and diet, to some enterprise V*^ 

That hath a stomach in't ; which is no other — 100 

As it doth well appear unto our state — 

But to recover of us, by strong hand 

And terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands 

So by his father lost : and this, I take it, 

Is the main motive of our preparations, 

The source of this our watch and the chief head 

Of this post-haste and romage in the land. 

Bernardo. I think it be no other but e'en so : 
Well may it sort that this portentous figure 
Comes armed through our watch ; so like the king no 

That was and is the question of these wars. 

Horatio. A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye. 
In the most high and palmy state of Rome, 
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell. 
The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead 
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets : 
As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood. 
Disasters in the sun ; and the moist star 
Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands 
Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse : 120 

And even the like precurse of fierce events. 
As harbingers preceding still the fates 
And prologue to the omen coming on. 
Have heaven and earth together demonstrated 
Unto our climatures and countrymen. — 
But soft, behold ! lo, where it comes again ! 



8 HAMLET, [ACT I. 

Re-enter Ghost. 

I'll cross it, though it blast me. Stay, illusion ! 

If thou hast any sound, or use of voice. 

Speak to me : 

If there be any good thing to be done, 130 

That may to thee do ease and grace to me. 

Speak to me : [ Cock crows. 

If thou art privy to thy country's fate. 

Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid, 

O, speak ! 

Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life 

Extorted treasure in the womb of earth. 

For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death. 

Speak of it : stay, and speak ! Stop it, Marcellus. 

Marcellus. Shall I strike at it with my partisan ? 140 

Horatio. Do, if it will not stand. 

Bernardo. 'Tis here ! 

Horatio. 'Tis here ! 

Marcellus. 'Tis gone ! \Exit Ghost. 

We do it wrong, being so majestical, 
To offer it the show of violence ; 
For it is, as the air, invulnerable, 
And our vain blows malicious mockery. 

Bernardo. It was about to speak, when the cock crew. 

Horatio. And then it started hke a guilty thing 
Upon a fearful summons. I have heard, 
The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn, 150 

Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat 
Awake the god of day ; and, at his warning. 
Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air. 
The extravagant and erring spirit hies 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. g 

To his confine : and of the truth herein 
This present object made probation. 

Marcellus. It faded on the crowing of the cock. 
Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes 
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, 
The bird of dawning singeth all night long ; 160 

j^d then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad : 
^ The nights are wholesome ; then no planets strike. 
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm. 
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time. 

Horatio. So have I heard and do in part believe it. 
But, look, the morn, in russet mantle clad. 
Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill : 
Break we our watch up ; and by my advice, 
Let us impart what we have seen to-night 
Unto young Hamlet ; for, upon my life, 170 

This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him. 
Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it, 
As needful in our loves, fitting our duty? 

Marcellus. Let's do't, I pray ; and I this morning know 
Where we shall find him most conveniently. \_Exeunt. 

Scene IL A room of state in the castle. 

Enter the King, Queen, Hamlet, Polonius, Laertes, Vol- 
TiMAND, Cornelius, Lords, and Attendants. 

King. Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death 
The memory be green, and that it us befitted 
To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom 
To be contracted in one brow of woe, 
Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature 
That we with wisest sorrow think on him, 



lO HAMLET, [ACT I. 

Together with rememberance of ourselves. 

Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen, 

The imperial jointress of this warlike state, 

Have we, as 'twere with a defeated joy, — lo 

With an auspicious and a dropping eye, 

With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage. 

In equal scale weighing delight and dole, — 

Taken to wife : nor have we herein barr'd 

Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone 

With this affair along. For all, our thanks. 

Now follows, that you know, young Fortinbras, 

Holding a weak supposal of our worth. 

Or thinking by our late dear brother's death 

Our state to be disjoint and out of frame, 20 

Colleagued with the dream of his advantage. 

He hath not fail'd to pester us with message. 

Importing the surrender of those lands 

Lost by his father, with all bonds of law. 

To our most valiant brother. So much for him. 

Now for ourself and for this time of meeting : 

Thus much the business is : we have here writ 

To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras, — 

Who, impotent and bed-rid, scarcely hears 

Of this his nephew's purpose, — to suppress 30 

His further gait herein ; in that the levies. 

The lists and full proportions, are all made 

Out of his subject : and we here dispatch 

You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltimand, 

For bearers of this greeting to old Norway ; 

Giving to you no further personal power 

To business with the king, more than the scope 

Of these delated articles allow. 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. II 

Farewell, and let your haste commend your duty. 39 

Cornelius. 



In that and all things will we show our duty. 
Voltimand. ) 

King. We doubt it nothing : heartily farewell. 

\_Exeunf Voltimand and Cornelius. 
And now, Laertes, what's the news with you ? 
You told us of some suit; what is't, Laertes? 
You cannot speak of reason to the Dane, 
And lose your voice : what wouldst thou beg, Laertes, 
That shall not be my offer, not thy asking? 
The head is not more native to the heart. 
The hand more instrumental to the mouth, 
Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father. 
What wouldst thou have, Laertes ? 

Laertes. My dread lord, 50 

Your leave and favour to return to France ; 
From whence though willingly I came to Denmark, 
To show my duty in your coronation, 
Yet now, I must confess, that duty done. 
My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France 
And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon. 

King. Have you your father's leave? What says Polo- 
nius? 

Polonius. He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave ^/Jj. 
By laboursome petition, and at last . ■- f^ %x> ^ 

Upon his will I seal'd my hard consent : ' {jT''^^^ 60 

I do beseech you, give him leave to go. 

King. Take thy fair hour, Laertes ; time be thine, 
And thy best graces spend it at thy will ! 
But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son, — 

Hamlet. [^Aside'] A little more than kin, and less than kind. 

King. How is it that the clouds still hang on you ? 



12 HAMLET, [ACT I. 

Hamlet Not so, my lord ; I am too much i' the sun. 

Queen. Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off, 
And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. 
Do not for ever with thy vailed lids 70 

Seek for thy noble father in the dust : 
Thou know'st 'tis common ; all that lives must die, 
Passing through nature to eternity. 

Hamlet. Ay, madam, it is common. 

Queen. If it be. 

Why seems it so particular with thee ? 

Hamlet. Seems, madam ! nay, it is ; I know not * seems.' 
'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother. 
Nor customary suits of solemn black, 
Nor windy suspiration of forced breath. 
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye, 80 

Nor the dejected 'haviour of the visage, 
Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief. 
That can denote me truly : these indeed seem, 
For they are actions that a man might play : 
But I have that within which passeth show; 
These but the trappings and suits of woe. 

King. 'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, 
Hamlet, 
To give these mourning duties to your father : 
But, you must know, your father lost a father ; 
That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound 90 

In filial obligation for some term 
To do obsequious sorrow ; but to persever 
In obstinate condolement is a course 
Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief; 
It shows a will most incorrect to heaven, 
A heart unfortified, a mind impatient. 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK, I3 

An understanding simple and unschool'd : 

For what we know must be and is as common 

As any the most vulgar thing to sense, 

Why should we in our peevish opposition 100 

Take it to heart ? Fie ! 'tis a fault to heaven, 

A fault against the dead, a fault to nature. 

To reason most absurd ; whose common theme 

Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried. 

From the first corse till he that died to-day, 

'This must be so.' We pray you, throw to earth 

This unpre vailing woe, and think of us 

As of a father : for let the world take note, 

You are the most immediate to our throne ; 

And with no less nobihty of love no 

Than that which dearest father bears his son, 

Do I impart toward you. For your intent 

In going back to school in Wittenberg, 

It is most retrograde to our desire : 

And we beseech you, bend you to remain 

Here, in the chair and comfort of our eye, 

Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son. 

Queen. Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet : 
I pray thee, stay with us ; go not to Wittenberg. 

Hamlet. I shall in all my best obey you, madam. 120 

King. Why, 'tis a loving and a fair reply ; 
Be as ourself in Denmark. Madam, come ; 
This gentle and unforc'd accord of Hamlet 
Sits smiling to my heart : in grace whereof. 
No jocund health that Denmark drinks to-day. 
But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell, 
And the king's rouse the heavens shall bruit again, 
Respeaking earthly thunder. Come away. 

\_Exeunt all but Hamlet. 



14 HAMLET, [ACT I. 

Hamlet. O, that this too too soHd flesh would melt, 
Thaw and resolve itself into a dew ! 130 

Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd 
His canon 'gainst self-slaughter ! O God ! O God ! 
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable, 
Seem to me all the uses of this world ! 
Fie on't ! ah fie ! 'tis an unweeded garden. 
That grows to seed ; things rank and gross in nature 
Possess it merely. That it should come to this ! 
But two months dead : nay, not so much, not two : 
So excellent a king ; that was, to this, 

Hyperion to a satyr ; so loving to my mother 140 

That he might not beteem the winds of heaven 
Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth ! 
Must I remember? why, she would hang on him, 
As if increase of appetite had grown 
But what it fed on : and yet, within a month — 
Let me not think on't — Frailty, thy name is woman ! — 
A little month, or ere those shoes were old 
With which she foUow'd my poor father's body, 
Like Niobe, all tears : — why she, even she — 
O God ! a beast, that wants discourse of reason, 150 

Would have mourn'd longer — married with my uncle. 
My father's brother, but no more like my father 
Than I to Hercules : within a month : 
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears 
Had left the flushing in her galled eyes. 
She married. O most wicked speed, to post 
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets ! 
It is not nor it cannot come to good : 
But break, my heart ; for I must hold my tongue. 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 1 5 

Enter Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo. 

Horatio. Hail to your lordship ! 

Hamlet. I am glad to see you well : 

Horatio, — or I do forget myself. 161 

Horatio. The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever. 

Hamlet. Sir, my good friend ; I '11 change that name with 
you : 
And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio? 
Marcellus ? 

Marcellus. My good lord — 

Hamlet. I am very glad to see you. Good even, sir. 
But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg? 

Horatio. A truant disposition, good my lord. 

Hamlet. I would not hear your enemy say so, 170 

Nor shall you do mine ear that violence. 
To make it truster of your own report 
Against yourself: I know you are no truant. 
But what is your affair in Elsinore ? 
We'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart. 

Horatio. My lord, I came to see your father's funeral. 

Hamlet. I pray thee, do not mock me, fellow-student ; 
I think it was to see my mother's wedding. 

Horatio. Indeed, my lord, it follow'd hard upon. 

Hamlet. Thrift, thrift, Horatio ! the funeral baked meats 
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables. 181 

Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven 
Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio ! 
My father ! — methinks I see my father. 

Horatio. Where, my lord ? 

Hamlet. In.my mind's eye, Horatio. 

Horatio. I saw him once ; he was a goodly king. 



1 6 HAMLET, [ACT I. 

Hamlet He was a man, take him for all in all, 
I shall not look upon his Hke again. 

Horatio. My lord, I think I saw him yesternight. 

Hamlet. Saw? who? 190 

Horatio. My lord, the king your father. 

Hamlet. The king my father ! 

Horatio. Season your ^dmijation for a while if**^'* 
With an attent ear, till I may deliver, . ^1^ 

Upon the witness of these gentlemen, 
This marvel to you. 

Hamlet. For God's love, let me hear. 

Horatio. Two nights together had these gentlemen, 
Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch. 
In the dead vast and middle of the night, 
Been thus encounter'd. A figure hke your father. 
Armed at point exactly, cap-a-pe, 200 

Appears before them, and with solemn march 
Goes slow and stately by them : thrice he walk'd 
By their oppressed and fear-surprised eyes, 
Within his truncheon's length ; whilst they, distill'd 
Almost to jelly with the act of fear. 
Stand dumb and speak not to him. This to me 
In dreadful secrecy impart they did ; 
And I with them the third night kept the watch : 
Where, as they had deliver'd, both in time. 
Form of the thing, each word made true and good, 210 

The apparition comes : I knew your father ; 
These hands are not more like. 

Hainlet. But where was this? 

Marcellus. My lord, upon the platform where we watch'd. 

Hamlet. Did you not speak to it ? 

Horatio. My lord, I did ; 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 1 7 

But answer made it none : yet once methought 

It lifted up its head and did address 

Itself to motion, like as it would speak ; 

But even then the morning cock crew loud, 

And at the sound it shrunk in haste away. 

And vanish'd from our sight. 

Hamlet. 'Tis very strange. 220 

Horatio. As I do live, my honour'd lord, 'tis true ; 

And we did think it writ down in our duty 

To let you know of it. 

Hamlet. Indeed, indeed, sirs, but this troubles me. 

Hold you the watch to night? 

Marcellus. ) 

n y \ We do, my lord. 

Bernardo. ) ' ■' 

Hamlet. Arm'd, say you ? 

Marcellus. "j 

„ , \ Arm'd, my lord. 

Bernardo, j ^ ^ 

Hamlet. From top to toe ? 

Marcellus. ) 

J) 7 >- My lord, from head to foot. 

Hamlet. Then saw you not his face ? 

Horatio. O, yes, my lord ; he wore his beaver up. 230 

Hamlet. What, look'd he frowningly? 

Horatio. A countenance more in sorrow than in anger. 

Hamlet. Pale or red ? 

Horatio. Nay, very pale. 

Hamlet. And fix'd his eyes upon you ? 

Horatio. Most constantly. 

Hamlet. I would I had been there. 

Horatio. It would have much amazed you. 

Hamlet. Very like, very like. Stay'd it long? 

Horatio. While one with moderate haste might tell a 
hundred. 



1 8 HAMLET, [ACT I. 



' [ Longer, longer. 



Marcellus. 

Bernardo. 

Horatio. Not when I saw't. 

Hamlet. His beard was grizzled, — no ? 

Horatio. It was, as I have seen it in his life, 241 

A sable silver'd. 

Hamlet. I will watch to-night ; 

Perchance 'twill walk again. 

Horatio. I warrant it will. 

Hamlet. If it assume my noble father's person, 

I'll speak to it, though hell itself should gape 

And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all. 

If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight. 

Let it be tenable in your silence still ; 

And whatsoever else shall hap to-night. 

Give it an understanding, but no tongue : 250 

I will requite your loves. So, fare you well : 

Upon the platform, 'twixt eleven and twelve, 

I'll visit you. 

All. Our duty to your honour. 

Hamlet. Your loves, as mine to you : farewell. 

[^Exeunt all tut Hamlet, 

My father's spirit in arms ! all is not well ; 

I doubt some foul play : would the night were come ! 

Till then sit still, my soul : foul deeds will rise. 

Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes. \^Exit. 

Scene HI. A room in Polonius* house. 

Enter Laertes and Ophelia. 

Laertes. My necessaries are embark'd : farewell : 
And, sister, as the winds give benefit 



SCENE III.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 1 9 

And convoy is assistant, do not sleep, 
But let me hear from you. 

Ophelia. Do you doubt that? 

Laertes. For Hamlet and the trifling of his favour, 
Hold it a fashion and a toy in blood, 
A violet in the youth of primy nature. 
Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting, 
The perfume and suppliance of a minute ; 
No more. 

Ophelia. No more but so ? 

Laertes. Think it no more : 10 

For nature, crescent, does not grow alone 
In thews and bulk, but, as this temple waxes, - "' ;; 

The inward service of the mind and soul 
Grows wide withal. Perhaps he loves you now. 
And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch 
The virtue of his will : but you must fear. 
His greatness weigh'd, his will is not his own ; 
For he himself is subject to his birth : 
He may not, as unvalued persons do, 

Carve for himself; for on his choice depends 20 

The safety and health of this whole state ; 
And therefore must his choice be circumscribed 
Unto the voice and yielding of that body 
Whereof he is the head. Then if he says he loves you. 
It fits your wisdom so far to believe it 
As he in his particular act and place 
May give his saying deed ; which is no further 
Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal. 
Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain. 
If with too credent ear you list his songs, 30 

Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open 



20 HAMLET, [act I. 

To his unmaster'd importunity. 

Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister, 

And keep you in the rear of your affection. 

Out of the shot and danger of desire. 

The chariest maid is prodigal enough, 

If she unmask her beauty to the moon : 

Virtue itself 'scapes not calumnious strokes : 

The canker galls the infants of the spring, 

Too oft before their buttons be disclosed, 40 

And in the mom and liquid dew of youth 

Contagious blastments are most imminent. 

Be wary then ; best safety lies in fear : 

Youth to itself rebels, though none else near. 

Ophelia, I shall the effect of this good lesson keep, 
As watchman to my heart. But, good my brother, 
Do not, as some ungracious pastors do. 
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven. 
Whiles, Hke a puff'd and reckless libertine. 
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, 50 

And recks not his own rede. 

Laertes. O, fear me not. 

I stay too long : but here my father comes. 

Enter Polonius. 

A double blessing is a double grace ; 
Occasion smiles upon a second leave. 

Polonius. Yet here, Laertes ! aboard, aboard, for shame ! 
The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail, 
And you are stay'd for. There ; my blessing with thee ! 
And these few precepts in thy memory 
See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue. 



SCENE III.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 21 

Nor any unproportion'd thought his act. 60 

Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. 

Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, 

Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel ; 

But do not dull thy palm with entertainment 

Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade. Beware 

Of entrance to a quarrel, but, being in, 

Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee. 

Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice ; 

Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgement. 

Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, 70 

But not express'd in fancy ; rich, not gaudy ; 

For the apparel oft proclaims the man. 

And they in France of the best rank and station 

Are of a most select and generous chief in that. 

Neither a borrower nor a lender be ; 

For loan oft loses both itself and friend. 

And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. 

This above all : to thine own self be true. 

And it must follow, as the night the day. 

Thou canst not then be false to any man. 80 

Farewell : my blessing season this in thee ! 

Laertes. Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord. 

Polo7iiiis. The time invites you ; go ; your servants tend. 

Laertes. Farewell, Ophelia ; and remember well 
What I have said to you. 

Ophelia. 'Tis in my memory lock'd. 

And you yourself shall keep the key of it. 

Laertes. Farewell. \_Exit. 

Polonius. What is't, Ophelia, he hath said to you? 

Ophelia. So please you, something touching the Lord 
Hamlet. 



22 HAMLET, [act i. 

Polonius. Marry, well bethought : 90 

'Tis told me, he hath very oft of late 
Given private time to you ; and you yourself 
Have of your audience been most free and bounteous : 
If it be so, as so 'tis put on me, 
And that in way of caution, I must tell you, 
You do not understand yourself so clearly 
As it behoves my daughter and your honour. 
What is between you ? give me up the truth. 

Ophelia. He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders 
Of his affection to me. 100 

Polonius. Affection ! pooh ! you speak like a green girl, 
Unsifted in such perilous circumstance. 
Do you believe his tenders, as you call them ? 

Ophelia. I do not know, my lord, what I should think. 

Polonius. Marry, I'll teach you : think yourself a baby ; 
That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay, 
Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly ; 
Or — not to crack the wind of the poor phrase, 
Running it thus — you'll tender me a fool. 

Ophelia. My lord, he hath importuned me with love no 
In honourable fashion. 

Polonius. Ay, fashion you may call it ; go to, go to. 

Ophelia. And hath given countenance to his speech, my 
lord. 
With almost all the holy vows of heaven. 

Polonius. Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know. 
When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul 
Lends the tongue vows : these blazes, daughter, 
Giving more light than heat, extinct in both. 
Even in their promise, as it is a-making. 
You must not take for fire. From this time 120 



SCENE IV.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 23 

Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence ; 

Set your entreatments at a higher rate 

Than a command to parley. For Lord Hamlet, 

Believe so much in him, that he is young, 

And with a larger tether may he walk 

Than may be given you : in few, Ophelia, 

Do not believe his vows ; for they are brokers, 

Not of that dye which their investments show. 

But mere implorators of unholy suits. 

Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds, 130 

The better to beguile. This is for all : 

I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth. 

Have you so slander any moment leisure. 

As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet. 

Look to't, I charge you : come your ways. 

Ophelia. I shall obey, my lord. \_Exeunt, 

Scene IV. The platform. 
Enter Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus. 

Hamlet. The air bites shrewdly ; it is very cold. 

Horatio. It is a nipping and an eager air. 

Hamlet. What hour now ? 

Horatio. I think it lacks of twelve. 

Marcellus. No, it is struck. 

Horatio. Indeed ? I heard it not : it then draws near the 
season 
Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk. 

\_A flourish of trumpets, and ordnance shot off within. 
What does this mean, my lord ? 

Hamlet. The king doth wake to-night and takes his rouse, 



24 HAMLET, [ACT I. 

Keeps wassail, and the swaggering up-spring reels ; 

And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down, lo 

The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out 

The triumph of his pledge. 

Horatio. Is it a custom ? 

Hamlet, Ay, marry is't : 
But to my mind, though I am native here 
And to the manner born, it is a custom 
More honour'd in the breach than the observance. 
This heavy-headed revel east and west 
Makes us traduced and tax'd of other nations : 
They clepe us drunkards, and with swinish phrase 
Soil our addition ; and indeed it takes 20 

From our achievements, though perform 'd at height, 
The pith and marrow of our attribute. 
So, oft it chances in particular men. 
That for some vicious mole of nature in them, 
As, in their birth — wherein they are not guilty. 
Since nature cannot choose his origin — 
By the o'ergrowth of some complexion. 
Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason. 
Or by some habit that too much o'er-leavens 
The form of plausive manners, that these men, 30 

Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect. 
Being nature's livery, or fortune's star, — 
Their virtues else — be they as pure as grace, 
As infinite as man may undergo — 
Shall in the general censure take corruption 
From that particular fault : the dram of eale 
Doth all the noble substance of a doubt 
To his own scandal. 

Horatio. Look, my lord, it comes ! 



SCENE IV.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 25 

Enter Ghost. 

Hamlet. Angels and ministers of grace defend us ! 
Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn'd, 40 

Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell. 
Be thy intents wicked or charitable, 
Thou comest in such a questionable shape 
That I will speak to thee : I '11 call thee Hamlet, 
King, father, royal Dane : O, answer me ! 
Let me not burst in ignorance ; but tell 
Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death, 
Have burst their cerements ; why the sepulchre, 
Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn'd. 

Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws, 50 

To cast thee up again. What may this mean, 
That thou, dead corse, again in complete steel 
Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon. 
Making night hideous ; and we fools of nature 
So horridly to shake our disposition 
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls? 
Say, why is this ? wherefore ? what should we do ? 

[ Ghost beckons Hamlet. 

Horatio. It beckons you to go away with it, 
As if it some impartment did desire 
To you alone. 

Marcellus. Look, with what courteous action 00 

It waves you to a more removed ground : 
But do not go with it. 

Horatio. No, by no means. 

Hamlet. It will not speak ; then I will follow it. 

Horatio. Do not, my lord. 

Hamlet. Why, what should be the fear ? 



26 HAMLET, [ACT I. 

I do not set my life at a pin's fee ; 
And for my soul, what can it do to that, 
Being a thing immortal as itself? 
It waves me forth again : I'll follow it. 

Horatio. What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord, 
Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff 70 

That beetles o'er his base into the sea, 
And there assume some other horrible form, 
Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason 
And draw you into madness ? think of it : 
The very place puts toys of desperation. 
Without more motive, into every brain 
That looks so many fathoms to the sea 
And hears it roar beneath. 

Hamlet. It waves me still. 

Go on ; I'll follow thee. 79 

Marcellus. You shall not go, my lord. 

Hamlet. Hold off your hands. 

Horatio. Be ruled ; you shall not go. 

Hamlet. My fate cries out, 

And makes each petty artery in this body 
As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve. 
Still am I call'd. Unhand me, gentlemen. 
By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me ! 
I say, away ! Go on ; I'll follow thee. 

\Exeunt Ghost and Hamlet. 

Horatio. He waxes desperate with imagination. 

Marcellus. Let's follow ; 'tis not fit thus to obey him. 

Horatio. Have after. To what issue will this come ? 89 

Marcellus. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. 

Horatio. Heaven will direct it. 

Marcellus. Nay, let's follow him. \_Exeunt. 



SCENE v.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 27 

Scene V. Another part of the platform. 
Enter Ghost and Hamlet. 

Hamlet. Where wilt thou lead me? speak; I'll go no 
further. 

Ghost. Mark me. 

Hamlet. I will. 

Ghost. My hour is almost come, 

When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames 
Must render up myself. 

Hamlet. Alas, poor ghost ! 

Ghost. Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing 
To what I shall unfold. 

Hamlet. Speak ; I am bound to hear. 

Ghost. So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear. 

Hamlet. What? 

Ghost. I am thy father's spirit, 
Doomed for a certain term to walk the night, 10 

And for the day confined to fast in fires. 
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature 
Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid 
To tell the secrets of my prison-house, 
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word 
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, 
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, 
Thy knotted and combined locks to part, 
And each particular hair to stand an end. 
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine : 20 

But this eternal blazon must not be 
To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list ! 
If thou didst ever thy dear father love — 



28 HAMLET, [ACT I. 

Hamlet O God ! 

Ghost. Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. 

Hamlet. Murder ! 

Ghost. Murder most foul, as in the best it is ; 
But this most foul, strange, and unnatural. 

Hamlet. Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift 
As meditation or the thoughts of love, 30 

May sweep to my revenge. 

Ghost. I find thee apt ; 

And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed 
That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf, 
Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear : 
'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard, 
A serpent stung me ; so the whole ear of Denmark 
Is by a forged process of my death 
Rankly abused : but know, thou noble youth, 
The serpent that did sting thy father's hfe 
Now wears his crown. 

Hamlet. O my prophetic soul ! 40 

My uncle ! 

Ghost. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast, 
With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts, — ^ 
O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power 
So to seduce ! — won to his shameful lust 
The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen : 

Hamlet, what a faUing-off was there ! 
From me, whose love was of that dignity 
That it went hand in hand even with the vow 

1 made to her in marriage, and to decline 50 
Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor 

To those of mine ! 

But virtue, as it never will be moved, 



SCENE v.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 29 

Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven, 

So lust, though to a radiant angel link'd, 

Will sate itself in a celestial bed, 

And prey on garbage. 

But, soft ! methinks I scent the morning air ; 

Brief let me be. Sleeping within my orchard. 

My custom always of the afternoon, 60 

Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole. 

With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial. 

And in the porches of my ears did pour 

The leperous distilment ; whose effect 

Holds such an enmity with blood of man 

That swift as quicksilver it courses through 

The natural gates and alleys of the body. 

And with a sudden vigour it doth posset 

And curd, like eager droppings into milk, 

The thin and wholesome blood : so did it mine ; 70 

And a most instant tetter bark'd about, 

Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust. 

All my smooth body. 

Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand 

Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd : 

Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin, 

Unhousel'd, disappointed, unaneled, 

No reckoning made, but sent to my account 

With all my imperfections on my head : 

O, horrible ! O, horrible ! most horrible ! 80 

If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not ; 

Let not the royal bed of Denmark be 

A couch for luxury and damned incest. 

But, howsoever thou pursuest this act, 

Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive 



30 HAMLET, [act I. 

Against thy mother aught : leave her to heaven 
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge, 
To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once ! 
The glow-worm shows the matin to be near, 
And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire : 90 

Adieu, adieu ! Hamlet, remember me. \^Exif, 

Hamlet. O all you host of heaven ! O earth ! what 
else? 
And shall I couple hell ! O, fie ! Hold, hold, my heart ; 
And you, my sinews, grow not instant old, 
But bear me stifily up. Remember thee ! 
Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat 
In this distracted globe. Remember thee ! 
Yea, from the table of my memory 
I'll wipe away all trivial fond records. 

All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, 100 

That youth and observation copied there ; 
And thy commandment all alone shall live 
Within the book and volume of my brain, 
Unmix'd with baser matters : yes, by heaven ! 
O most pernicious woman ! 

villain, villain, smiling, damned villain ! 
My tables, — meet it is I set it down. 

That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain ; 
At least I'm sure it may be so in Denmark : [ Writing. 

So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word ; no 

It is * Adieu, adieu ! remember me.' 

1 have sworn't. 

77 /,• * r [ Wiihin\ My lord, my lord ! 

Marcellus, [ Within\ Lord Hamlet, 

Horatio. [ Withifi] Heaven secure him ! 



SCENE v.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 3 1 

Hamlet. So be it ! 

Horatio. [ Within\ Hillo, ho, ho, my lord ! 

Hamlet. Hillo, ho, ho, boy ! come, bird, come. 

Enter Horatio and Marcellus. 

Marcellus. How is't, my noble lord ? 
Horatio. What news, my lord ? 

Hamlet. O, wonderful ! 
Horatio. Good my lord, tell it. 

Hamlet. No ; you'll reveal it. 

Horatio. Not I, my lord, by heaven. 
Marcellus. Nor I, my lord. 120 

Hamlet. How say you, then ; would heart of man once 
think it? 
But you'll be secret ? 
Horatio. 



Marcellus. J ^^' ^^ '^"^^'"' ""^ '°^'^- 

Hamlet. There's ne'er a villain dwelling in all Denmark 
But he's an arrant knave. 

Horatio. There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the 
grave 
To tell us this. 

Hamlet. Why, right j you are i' the right ; 

And so, without more circumstance at all, 
I hold it fit that we shake hands and part : 
You, as your business and desire shall point you ; 
For every man has business and desire, 130 

Such as it is ; and for mine own poor part, 
Look you, I'll go pray. 

Horatio. These are but wild and whirling words, my lord. 

Hamlet. I'm sorry they offend you, heartily ; 
Yes, 'faith, heartily. 



32 HAMLET, [ACT. I. 

Horatio. There's no offence, my lord. 

Hamlet. Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio, 
And much offence too. Touching this vision here, 
It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you : 
For your desire to know what is between us, 
O'ermaster't as you may. And now, good friends, 140 

As you are friends, scholars, and soldiers, 
Give me one poor request. 

Horatio. What is't, my lord ? we will. 

Hamlet. Never make known what you have seen to-night. 

Horatio. ) ,, , j .,1 

\ My lord, we will not. 
Marcellus. ) 

Ha7nlet. Nay, but swear't. 

Horatio. In faith. 

My lord, not I. 

Marcellus. Nor I, my lord, in faith. 

Hamlet. Upon my sword. 

Marcellus. We have sworn, my lord, already. 

Hamlet. Indeed, upon my sword, indeed. 

Ghost. \_Beneath'] Swear. 

Hamlet. Ah, ha, boy ! say'st thou so ? art thou there, 
true-penny ? 150 

Come on — you hear this fellow in the cellarage — 
Consent to swear. 

Horatio. Propose the oath, my lord. 

Hamlet. Never to speak of this that you have seen, 
Swear by my sword. 

Ghost. [^Beneath'] Swear. ^ 

Hamlet Hie et ubique ? then we'll shift our ground. 
Come hither, gentlemen. 
And lay your hands again upon my sword : 
Never to speak of this that you have heard. 
Swear by my sword. 160 



SCENE v.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 33 

Ghost. \^Beneath~\ Swear. 

Hamlet Well said, old mole ! canst work i' the earth so fast ? 
A worthy pioner ! Once more remove, good friends. 

Horatio. O day and night, but this is wondrous strange ! 

Hamlet. And therefore as a stranger give it welcome. 
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, 
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. 
But come ; 

Here, as before, never, so help you mercy, 
I How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself, 170 

As I perchance hereafter shall think meet 
To put an antic disposition on, 
That you, at such times seeing me, never shall, 
With arms encumber'd thus, or this head-shake, 
Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase. 
As * Well, well, we know,' or * We could, an if we would,' 
Or ' If we list to speak,' or ' There be, an if they might,' 
Or such ambiguous giving out, to note 
That you know aught of me : this not to do, 
So grace and mercy at your most need help you, 180 

Swear. 

Ghost. \_Beneath'] Swear. 

Hamlet. Rest, rest, perturbed spirit ! \They swear."] So, 
gentlemen. 
With all my love I do commend me to you : 
And what so poor a man as Hamlet is 
May do, to express his love and friending to you, 
God willing, shall not lack. Let us go in together ; 
And still your fingers on your lips, I pray. ^ 

jThe time is out of joint : O cursed spite, "OiiAt ■^^^^^^^"^'^J^ 
[That ever I was bom to set it right ! c:.A-«b^A„#».«y.wt r* igo^*"^^**^ 
[Nay, come, let's go together. \_Exeunt. 



34 HAMLET. [ACT I. 

EXPLANATORY NOTES. 

Scene i. 

1. 12. "If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, 

The rivals of my watch," — the old, and now obsolete, mean- 
ing of " rivals," was companions, or alternates. For deri- 
vation consult dictionary. 

1. 1 6. " Give you good night," is equivalent to " Good night." 

1. 29. " He may approve our eyes," — may confirtn or ratify what 
we see. 

1. 62. "So frowned he once, when in an angry parle, " — "parle," an 
obsolete word, meaning conversation^ parley. 

1. 100 "Some enterprise 

That hath a stomach in't," — that requires courage. 

1. 109. " Well may it sort," — well may it happen or come to pass. 

1. 140. "Shall I strike at it with my partisan?" — with va^ pike. 

1. 163. " No fairy takes," — z^o izxcy bewitches. 

Scene 2. 

1. 60. " Upon his will I seal'd my hard consent," — my consent hard 
or difficult to obtain. 

1. 65. "A little more than kin, and less than kind," — "Because, in 
being at once his uncle and his father, he is twice kin. 
And he is 'less than kind^ because his incestuous mar- 
riage, as Hamlet views it, is unnatural.^'' [Hudson.] 

1. 141. "That he might not beteem the winds of heaven 

Visit her face too roughly," — might not permit or allow the 
winds to touch her face too roughly. 

1. 192. " Season your admiration," — the old word for wonder, astonish- 
ment, hence " temper or restrain your astonishment.^^ 

Scene 3. 

1. 12. " In thews and bulk," — in muscular action, in sinews. 

1. 15. "And now no cautel," — no craft, deceit. 

1. 51. " And recks not his own rede," — heeds not his own advice. 



ACT I.] EXPLANATORY NOTES. 35 

1. 58. " And these few precepts in thy memory 

See thou character," — engrave these precepts on thy mind. 
1.69. "Take each man's censure," — each man's opinion — obsolete 

meaning. 
1. 122. " Set your entreatments," — interviews with yourself. 

Scene 4. 

1.9. "Keeps wassaiU and the swaggering up-spring reels," — 

keeps up the. fesiivities and the boisterous dances. 
1. 27. " By the o'ergrowth of some complexion," — by the excess of 

some natural habit. 

1. 36 " The dram of eale," — eale obsolete form of ale. 

1. 75. " The very place puts toys of desperation," — desperate whims 

ox fancies. 
1. 85. ... "I'll make a ghost of him that lets me," — that hinders, 

prevents, me. 

Scene- 5. 
1. 69. ... " Like eager droppings into milk," — drops of acid. 
1. 71. "And a most instant tetter bark'd about. 

Most lazar-like," — a most instantaneous disease formed scabs, 
leper-like, about my body. 
1. 77. "UnhousePd, disappointed, unaneled," — without having 
received the Eucharist, unprepared for death, and without 
extrem.e unction. 
1. 97. ..." While memory holds a seat 

In this distracted globe," — this distracted ^^^^ of mine. 
1. 138. "It is an honest ghost," — it is a ghost in truth, actually. 



^6 HAMLET, [ACT II. '1 



ACT II. 

Scene I. A room in Polonius* house. 
Enter Polonius and Reynaldo. 

Folonius. Give him this money and these notes, Reynaldo. 

Reynaldo. I will, my lord. 

Polonius. You shall do marvellous wisely, good Reynaldo, 
Before you visit him, to make inquire 
Of his behaviour. 

Reynaldo. My lord, I did intend it. 

Folonius. Marry, well said ; very well said. Look you, sir. 
Inquire me first what Danskers are in Paris : 
And how, and who, what means, and where they keep, 
What company, at what expense ; and finding 
By this encompassment and drift of question lo 

That they do know my son, come you more nearer 
Than your particular demands will touch it : 
Take you, as 'twere, some distant knowledge of him ; 
As thus, ' I know his father and his friends, 
And in part him : ' do you mark this, Reynaldo ? 

Reynaldo. Ay, very well, my lord. 

Folonius. * And in part him ; but ' you may say * not well : 
But, if 't be he I mean, he's very wild ; 
Addicted so and so : ' and there put on him 
What forgeries you please ; marry, none so rank 20 

As may dishonour him ; take heed of that ; 
But, sir, such wanton, wild and usual slips 



SCENE I.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 37 

As are companions noted and most known 
To youth and liberty. 

Reynaldo. As gaming, my lord. 

Polonius. Ay, or drinking, fencing, swearing, quarrelling, 
Drabbing : you may go so far. 

Reynaldo. My lord, that would dishonour him. 

Polonius. 'Faith, no ; as you may season it in the charge. 
You must not put another scandal on him. 
That he is open to incontinency ; 30 

That's not my meaning : but breathe his faults so quaintly 
That they may seem the taints of liberty, 
The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind, 
A savageness in unreclaimed blood. 
Of general assault. 

Reynaldo. But, my good lord, — 

Polonius. Wherefore should you do this? 

Reynaldo. Ay, my lord, 

I would know that. 

Polonius. Marry, sir, here's my drift ; 

And, I believe, it is a fetch of wit : 
You laying these slight sullies on my son. 
As 'twere a thing a little soil'd i' the working, 40 

Mark you. 

Your party in converse, him you would sound, 
Having ever seen in the prenominate crimes 
The youth you breathe of guilty, be assured 
He closes with you in this consequence ; 
'Good sir,' or so, or * friend,' or 'gentleman,' 
According to the phrase or the addition 
Of man and country. 

Reynaldo. Very good, my lord. 

Polonius. And then, sir, does he this — he does — what 



38 HAMLET, [ACT II. 

was I about to say? By the mass, I was about to say some- 
thing : where did I leave ? 51 
. Reynaldo. At ' closes in the consequence,' at ' friend or 
so,' and ' gentlemen.' 

Polonius. At ' closes in the consequence,' ay, marry ; 
He closes thus : ' I know the gentleman ; 
I saw him yesterday, or t'other day, 
Or then, or then ; with such, or such ; and, as you say 
There was 'a gaming ; there o'ertook in's rouse ; 
There falHng out at tennis : ' or perchance, 
' I saw him enter such a house of sale,' 60 

Videlicet, a brothel, or so forth. 
See you now ; 

Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth : 
And thus do we of wisdom and of reach, 
With windlasses and with assays of bias, 
By indirections find directions out ; 
So, by my former lecture and advice. 
Shall you my son. You have me, have you not? 

Reynaldo. My lord, I have. 

Polonius. God be wi' you ; fare you well. 

Reynaldo. Good my lord ! 70 

Polonius. Observe his inclination in yourself. 

Reynaldo. I shall, my lord. 

Polo?iius. And let him ply his music. 

Reynaldo. Well, my lord. 

Polonius. Farewell ! \_Exit Reynaldo. 

Enter Ophelia. 

How now, Ophelia ! what's the matter ? 
Ophelia. O, my lord, my lord, I have been so affrighted ! 
Polonius. With what, i' the name of God ? 



SCENE I.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 39 

Ophelia. My lord, as I was sewing in my closet, 
Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced j 
No hat upon his head ; his stockings foul'd, 
Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ancle ; 80 

Pale as his shirt ; his knees knocking each other ; 
And with a look so piteous in purport 
As if he had been loosed out of hell 
To speak of horrors, — he comes before me. 

Polonius. Mad for thy love ? 

Ophelia. ~ My lord, I do not know ; 

But truly, I do fear it. 

Polonius. What said he? 

Ophelia. He took me by the wrist and held me hard ; 
Then goes he to the length of all his arm j 
And, with his other hand thus o'er his brow, 
He falls to such perusal of my face 90 

As he would draw it. Long stay'd he so j 
At last, a Httle shaking of mine arm 
And thrice his head thus waving up and down. 
He raised a sigh so piteous and profound 
As it did seem to shatter all his bulk 
And end his being : that done, he lets me go : 
And, with his head over his shoulder turn'd, 
He seem'd to find his way without his eyes ; 
For out o' doors he went without their helps, 
And, to the last, bended their light on me. • loo 

Polonius. Come, go with me : I will go seek the king. 
This is the very ecstasy of love, 
Whose violent property fordoes itself 
And leads the will to desperate undertakings 
As oft as any passion under heaven 
That does afflict our natures. I am sorry. 



40 HAMLET, " [ACT II. 

What, have you given him any hard words of late ? 

Ophelia. No, my good lord, but, as you did*command, 
I did repel his letters, and denied 
His access to me. 

Polonius. That hath made him mad; no 

I am sorry that with better heed and judgement 
I had not quoted him : I fear'd he did but trifle. 
And meant to wreck thee ; but, beshrew my jealousy ! 
By heaven, it is as proper to our age 
To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions ^ 
As it is common for the younger sort 
To lack discretion. Come, go we to the king : ^ 
This must be known ; which, being kept close, might move 
More grief to hide than hate to utter love. \_Exeunt. 



Scene II. A room in the castle. 

Enter King, Queen, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and 

Attendants. 

King. Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern ! 
Moreover that we much did long to see you. 
The need we have to use you did provoke 
Our hasty sending. Something have you heard 
Of Hamlet's transformation ; so I call it, 
Sith nor the exterior nor the inward man 
Resembles that it was. W^hat it should be. 
More than his father's death, that thus hath put him 
So much from the understanding of himself, 
I cannot dream of: I entreat you both, lo 

That, being of so young days brought up with him, 
And sith so neighbour'd to his youth and haviour, 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 4 1 

That you vouchsafe your rest here in our court 
Some little time : so by your companies 
To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather, 
So much as from occasion you may glean. 
Whether aught, to us unknown, afflicts him thus, 
That, open'd, lies within our remedy. 

Queen. Good gentlemen, he hath much talk'd of you ; 
And sure I am two. men there are not living 20 

To whom he more adheres. If it will please you 
To show us so much gentry and good will 
As to expend your time with us awhile, 
For the supply and profit of our hope. 
Your visitation shall receive such thanks 
As fits a king's remembrance. 

Rosencrantz. Both your majesties 

Might, by the sovereign power you have of us, 
Put your dread pleasures more into command 
Than to entreaty. 

Guildenstern. But we both obey. 
And here give up ourselves, in the full bent 30 

To lay our service freely at your feet, 
To be commanded. 

King. Thanks, Rosencrantz and gentle Guildenstern. 

Queen. Thanks, Guildenstern and gentle Rosencrantz : 
And I beseech you instantly to visit 
My too much changed son. Go, some of you. 
And bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is. 

Guildenstei'n. Heavens make our presence and our prac- 
tices 
Pleasant and helpful to him ! 

Queen. Ay, amen ! 

\_Exeunt Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and some Attendants. 



42 HAMLET, [ACT II. 

Enter Polonius. 

Polonius. The ambassadors from Norway, my good lord, 
Are joyfully return'd. 41 

King. Thou still hast been the father of good news. 

Polonius. Have I, my lord ? I assure my good liege, 
I hold my duty, as I hold my soul. 
Both to my God and to my gracious king : 
And I do think, or else this brain of mine 
Hunts not the trail of policy so sure 
As it hath used to do, that I have found 
The very cause of Hamlet's lunacy. 

King. O, speak of that ; that do I long to hear. 50 

Polonius. Give first admittance to the ambassadors j 
My news shall be the fruit to that great feast. 

King. Thyself do grace to them, and bring them in. 

\_Exit Polonius. 
He tells me, my dear Gertrude, he hath found 
The head and source of all your son's distemper. 

Queen. I doubt it is no other but the main j 
His father's death, and our o'erhasty marriage. 

King. Well, we shall sift him. 

Re-enter Polonius, with Voltimand and Cornelius. 

Welcome, my good friends ! 
Say, Voltimand, what from our brother Norway? 

Voltimand. Most fair return of greetings and desires. 60 
Upon our first, he sent out to suppress 
His nephew's levies ; which to him appear'd 
To be a preparation 'gainst the Polack ; 
But, better look'd into, he truly found 
It was against your highness : whereat grieved, 
That so his sickness, age,- and impotence 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 43 

Was falsely borne in hand, sends out arrests 

On Fortinbras ; which he, in brief, obeys ; 

Receives rebuke from Norway, and in fine 

Makes vow before his uncle never more 70 

To give the assay of arms against your majesty. 

Whereon old Norway, overcome with joy, 

Gives him three thousand crowns in annual fee, 

And his commission to employ those soldiers. 

So levied as before, against the Polack : 

With an entreaty, herein further shown, \_Giving a paper. 

That it might please you to give quiet pass 

Through your dominions for this enterprise, 

On such regards of safety and allowance 

As herein are set down. 

King. It likes us well ; 80 

And at our more consider'd time we'll read, 
Answer, and think upon this business. 
Meantime we thank you for your well- took labour : 
Go to your rest ; at night we'll feast together : 
Most welcome home ! \^Exeunt Voltimand and Cornelius. 

Polonius. This business is well ended. 

My liege, and madam, to expostulate 
What majesty should be, what duty is, 
What day is day, night night, and time is time, 
Were nothing but to waste night, day, and time. 
Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit, 90 

And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, 
I will be brief : your noble son is mad : 
Mad call I it; for, to define true madness. 
What is't but to be nothing else but mad? 
But let that go. 

Queen. • More matter, with less art. 



44 HAMLET, [act II. 

Polonius. Madam, I swear I use no art at all. 
That he is mad, 'tis true : 'tis true 'tis pity ; 
And pity 'tis 'tis true : a foolish figure ; 
But farewell it, for I will use no art. 

Mad let us grant him, then : and now remains loo 

That we find out the cause of this effect, 
Or rather say, the cause of this defect, 
For this effect defective comes by cause : 
Thus it remains, and the remainder thus. 
Perpend. 

I have a daughter — have while she is mine — 
Who, in her duty and obedience, mark. 
Hath given me this : now gather, and surmise. 
[Reads] * To the celestial and my souVs idol, the most beau- 
tified Ophelia, — no 
That's an ill phrase, a vile phrase ; * beautified ' is a vile 
phrase : but you shall hear. Thus : 
[Reads] ' In her excellent white bosom, these, etc.'' 

Queen. Came this from Hamlet to her? 

Polonius. Good madam, stay awhile ; I will be faithful. 
[Reads] ^ Doubt thou the stajs are fii'e ; 

Doubt that the sun doth move ; 
Doubt truth to be a liar ; 

But never doubt I love. 119 

' O dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers ; I have not 
art to reckon my groans : but that I love thee best, O most 
best, believe it. Adieu. 

' Thine evermore, most dear lady, whilst this 
machine is to him, Hamlet.' 
This, in obedience, hath my daughter shown me, 
And more above, hath his solicitings, 
As they fell out by time, by means and place, 
All given to mine ear. 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 45 

King. But how hath she 

Received his love ? 

Folonius. What do you think of me? 

King. As of a man faithful and honourable. 130 

Folonius. I would fain prove so. But what might you think, 
When I had seen this hot love on the wing — 
As I perceived it, I must tell you that, 
Before my daughter told me — what might you, 
Or my dear majesty your queen here, think. 
If I had play'd the desk or table-book, 
Or given my heart a winking, mute and dumb, 
Or look'd upon this love with idle sight ; 
What might you think? No, I went round to work, 
And my young mistress thus I did bespeak : 140 

* Lord Hamlet is a prince, out of thy star; 
This must not be : ' and then I prescripts gave her, 
That she should lock herself from his resort. 
Admit no messengers, receive no tokens. 
Which done, she took the fruits of my advice ; 
And he, repulsed — a short tale to make — 
Fell into a sadness, then into a fast. 
Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness. 
Thence to a lightness, and, by this declension, 
Into the madness wherein now he raves, 150 

And all we mourn for. 

King. Do you think 'tis this ? 

Queen. It may be, very likely. 

Folonius. Hath there been such a time — I'd fain know 
that — 
That I have positively said ' 'Tis so,' 
When it proved otherwise ? 

King. Not that I know. 



46 HAMLET, [act ii. 

Polonius. \_Pomfing to his head and shoulder.'] Take this 
from this, if this be otherwise : 
If circumstances lead me, I will find 
Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed 
Within the centre. 

King. How may we try it further ? 

Polonius. You know, sometimes he walks four hours to- 
gether i6o 
Here in the lobby. 

Queen, So he does indeed. 

Polonius. At such a time I'll loose my daughter to him : 
Be you and I behind an arras then ; 
Mark the encounter : if he love her not 
And be not from his reason fall'n thereon, 
Let me be no assistant for a state, 
But keep a farm and carters. 

King. We will try it. 

Queen. But, look, where sadly the poor wretch comes 
reading. 

Polonius. Away, I do beseech you, both away : 
I'll board him presently. 

[Exeunt King, Queen, and Attendants. 

Enter Hamlet, reading. 

O, give me leave : 170 
How does my good Lord Hamlet ? 
Hamlet. Well, God-a-mercy. 
Polonius. Do you know me, my lord ? 
Hajnlet. Excellent well ; you are a fishmonger. 
Polonius. Not I, my lord ! 

Hamlet. Then I would you were so honest a man. 
Polonius. Honest, my lord ! 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 47 

Hamlet. Ay, sir ; to be honest, as this world goes, is to be 
one man picked out of ten thousand. 

Polonius. That's very true, my lord. 180 

Hamkt. For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, be- 
ing a god kissing carrion, — Have you a daughter? 

Polonius. I have, my lord. 

Hamlet. Let her not walk i' the sun : conception is a 
blessing : but not as your daughter may conceive. Friend, 
look to't. 

Polonius. \_Aside'\ How say you by that? Still harping 
on my daughter : yet he knew me not at first ; he said I was 
a fishmonger : he is far gone, far gone : and truly in my youth 
I suffered much extremity for love ; very near this. I'll 
speak to him again. What do you read, my lord? 191 

Hamlet. Words, words, words. 

Polonius. What is the matter, my lord ? 

Hamlet. Between who ? 

Polonius. I mean, the matter that you read, my lord. 

Hamlet. Slanders, sir : for the satirical rogue says here 
that old men have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled, 
their eyes purging thick amber and plum-tree gum and that 
they have a plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak 
hams : all which, sir, though I most powerfully and potently 
believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down, 
for yourself, sir, should be old as I am, if like a crab you 
could go backward. 

Polonius. \_Aside'\ Though this be madness, yet there is 
method in't. Will you walk out of the air, my lord ? 

Hamlet. Into my grave ? 

Polonius. Indeed, that is out o' the air. \_Aside'\ How 
pregnant sometimes his replies are ! a happiness that often 
madness hits on, which reason and sanity could not so pros- 



48 HAMLET, [ACT II. 

perously be delivered of. I will leave him, and suddenly 
contrive the means of meeting between him and my daugh- 
ter. — My honourable lord, I will most humbly take my leave 
of you. 213 

Hamlet. You cannot, sir, take from me any thing that I 
will more willingly part withal : except my life, except my 
life, except my hfe. 

Polonius. Fare you well, my lord. 

Hamlet. These tedious old fools ! 

Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. 

Polonius. You go to seek the Lord Hamlet ; there he is. 

Rosencrantz. \To Polonius^ God save you, sir ! 

\_Exit Polonius. 

Guildenstern. My honoured lord ! 

Rosencrantz. My most dear lord ! 

Hamlet. My excellent good friends ! How dost thou, 
Guildenstern? Ah, Rosencrantz? Good lads, how do ye 
both? 

Rosencrantz. As the indifferent children of the earth. 

Guildenstern. Happy, in that we are not over-happy ; 
On fortune's cap we are not the very button. 

Hamlet. Nor the soles of her shoe ? 

Rosencrantz. Neither, my lord. 230 

Hamlet. Then you live about her waist, or in the middle 
of her favours ? 

Guildenstern. 'Faith, her privates we. 

Hamlet. In the secret parts of fortune ? O, most true ; 
she is a strumpet. What's the news? 

Rosencrantz. None, my lord, but that the world's grown 
honest. 

Hamlet. Then is doomsday near : but your news is not 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 49 

true. Let me question more in particular : what have you, 
my good friends, deserved at the hands of fortune, that she 
sends you to prison hither ? 

Guildenstern. Prison, my lord ! 

Hamlet. Denmark's a prison. 

Roseficrantz. Then is the world one. 

Hamlet. A goodly one ; in which there are many confines, 
wards, and dungeons, Denmark being one o' the worst. 

Rosencrantz. We think not so, my lord. 

Hamlet. Why, then, 'tis none to you ; for there is noth- 

fing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so : to me it 

is a prison. 250 

Rosencrantz. Why then, your ambition makes it one ; 'tis 
too narrow for your mind. 

Hamlet. O God, I could be bounded in a nut-shell and 
count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have 
bad dreams. 

Guildenstern. Which dreams indeed are ambition, for the 
very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a 
dream. 

Hamlet. A dream itself is but a shadow. 

Rosencrantz. Truly, and I hold ambition of so airy and 
light a quality that it is but a shadow's shadow. 

Hamlet. Then are our beggars bodies, and our monarchs 
and outstretched heroes the beggars' shadows. Shall we to 
the court? for, by my fay, I cannot reason. 

Rosencrantz. 

Guildenstern. 

Hamlet. No such matter : I will not sort you with the 
rest of my servants, for, to speak to you like an honest man, 
I am most dreadfully attended. But, in the beaten way of 
friendship, what make you at Elsinore ? 269 



\ We'll wait upon you. 



50 HAMLET, [ACT II. 

Rosencrantz. To visit you, my lord ; no other occasion. 

Hamlet. Beggar that I am, I am even poor in thanks ; 
but I thank you : and sure, dear friends, my thanks are too 
dear a halfpenny. Were you not sent for ? Is it your own 
inchning? Is it a free visitation? Come, deal justly with 
me : come, come ; nay, speak. 

Guildenstern. What should we say, my lord? 

Hamlet. Why, any thing, but to the purpose. You were 
sent for; and there is a kind of confession in your looks 
which your modesties have not craft enough to colour : I 
know the good king and queen have sent for you. 

Rosencrantz. To what end, my lord ? 

Hamlet. That you must teach me. But let me conjure 
you, by the rights of our fellowship, by the consonancy of 
our youth, by the obligation of our ever-preserved love, and 
by what more dear a better proposer could charge you 
withal, be even and direct with me, whether you were sent 
for, or no ? 

Rosencrantz. \_Aside to Guildensterii\ What say you? 

Hamlet. \^Aside'] Nay, then, I have an eye of you. — If 
you love me, hold not off. 290 

Guildenstei'n. My lord, we were sent for. 

Hamlet. I will tell you why ; so shall my anticipation pre- 
vent your discovery, and your secrecy to the king and queen 
moult no feather. I have of late — but wherefore I know 
not — lost all my mirth, foregone all custom of exercises ; 
and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this 
goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory, 
this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o'er- 
hanging jfirmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden 
fire, why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and 
pestilent congregation of vapours. What a piece of work 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 5 1 

is a man ! how noble in reason ! how infinite in faculty ! in 
form and moving how express and admirable ! in action how 
like an angel ! in apprehension how like a god ! the beauty 
of the world ! the paragon of animals ! And yet, to me, 
what is this quintessence of dust ? man delights not me : no, 
nor woman neither, though by your smiling you seem to 
say so. 

Rosencrantz. My lord, there was no such stuff in my 
thoughts. 310 

Hamlet. Why did you laugh then, when I said ' man de- 
lights not me ' ? 

Rosencrantz. To think, my lord, if you delight not in man, 
what lenten entertainment the players shall receive from 
you : we coted them on the way; and hither are they com- 
ing to offer you service. 

Hamlet. He that plays the king shall be welcome ; his 
majesty shall have tribute of me; the adventurous knight 
shall use his foil and target ; the lover shall not sigh gratis ; 
the humorous man shall end his part in peace ; the clown 
shall make those laugh whose lungs are tickle o' the sere ; 
and the lady shall say her mind freely, or the blank verse 
shall halt for't. What players are they? 

Rosencrantz. Even those you were wont to take delight 
in, the tragedians of the city. 

Hamlet. How chances it they travel ? their residence, both 
in reputation and profit, was better both ways. 

Rosencrantz. I think their inhibition comes by the means 
of the late innovation. 

Hamlet. Do they hold the same estimation they did when 
I was in the city? are they so followed? 331 

Rosencrantz. No, indeed, are they not, 

Hamlet. How comes it ? do they grow rusty ? 



52 HAMLET, [ACT II. 

Rosencrantz. Nay, their endeavour keeps in the wonted 
pace : but there is, sir, an aery of children, little eyases, that 
cry out on the top of question, and are most tyrannically 
clapped for 't : these are now the fashion, and so berattle 
the common stages — so they call them — that many wearing 
rapiers are afraid of goose-quills and dare scarce come 
thither. 

Hamlet. What, are they children? who maintains 'em? 
how are they escoted? Will they pursue the quality no 
longer than they can sing? will they not say afterwards, if 
they should grow themselves to common players — as it is 
most like, if their means are no better — their writers do 
them wrong, to make them exclaim against their own suc- 
cession? 

Roseficrantz. 'Faith, there has been much to do on both 
sides ; and the nation holds it no sin to tarre them to contro- 
versy : there was, for a while, no money bid for argument, 
unless the poet and the player went to cuffs in the ques- 
tion. 352 

Hamlet. Is't possible ? 

Guildenstern. O, there has been much throwing about of 
brains. 

Hamlet. Do the boys carry it away? 

Rosencrantz. Ay, that they do, my lord ; Hercules and 
his load too. 

Hamlet. It is not very strange ; for mine uncle is king of 
Denmark, and those that would make mows at him while 
my father lived, give twenty, forty, fifty, an hundred ducats 
a-piece for his picture in little. 'Sblood, there is something 
in this more than natural, if philosophy could find it out. 

\_Flourish of trumpets within, 

Guildenstern, There are the players. 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 53 

Hamlet. Gentlemen, you are welcome to Elsinore. Your 
hands, come then : the appurtenance of welcome is fashion 
and ceremony : let me comply with you in this garb, lest 
my extent to the players, which, I tell you, must show fairly 
outward, should more appear like entertainment than yours. 
You are welcome : but my uncle-father and aunt-mother are 
deceived. 371 

Guildenstern-. In what, my dear lord? 

Hamlet. I am but mad north-north-west : when the wind 
is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw. 

Enter Polonius. 

Polonius. Well be with you, gentlemen ! 

Hamlet. Hark you, Guildenstern ; and you too : at each 
ear a hearer : that great baby you see there is not yet out 
of his swaddling-clouts. 

Rosencrantz. Happily he's the second time come to them ; 
for they say an old man is twice a child. 

Hamlet. I will prophesy he comes to tell me of the play- 
ers ; mark it. You say right, sir : o' Monday morning ; 
'twas so indeed. 

Polonius. My lord, I have news to tell you. 

Hamlet. My lord, I have news to tell you. When Roscius 
was an actor in Rome, — 

Polonius. The actors are come hither, my lord. 

Hamlet. Buz, buz ! 388 

Polonius. Upon mine honour, — 

Hamlet. Then came each actor on his ass, — 

Polonius. The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, 
comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pas- 
toral, tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral, 
scene individable, or poem unlimited : Seneca cannot be 



54 HAMLET, [ACT II. 

too heavy, nor Plautus too light. For the law of writ and 
the liberty, these are the only men. 

Hamlet. O Jephthah, judge of Israel, what a treasure 
hadst thou ! 

Polonius. What treasure had he, my lord ? 

Hamlet. Why, 

' One fair daughter, and no more. 
The which he loved passing well.' 

Polonius. \Aside'\ Still on my daughter. 

Hamlet. Am I not i' the right, old Jephthah ? 

Polonius. If you call me Jephthah, my lord, I have a 
daughter that I love passing well. 

Hamlet. Nay, that follows not. 407 

Polonius. What follows, then, my lord? 

Hamlet. Why, 

' As by lot, God wot,' 
and then, you know, 

* It came to pass, as most like it was,' — ■ 
the first row of the pious chanson will show you more j for 
look, where my abridgement comes. 

Enter four or five Players. 

You are welcome, masters ; welcome, all. I am glad to see 
thee well. Welcome, good friends. O, my old friend ! thy 
face is valanced since I saw thee last : comest thou to beard 
me in Denmark? What, my young lady and mistress ! 
By'r lady, your ladyship is nearer to heaven than when I 
saw you last, by the altitude of a chopine. Pray God, your 
voice, like a piece of uncurrent gold, be not cracked within 
the ring. Masters, you are all welcome. We'll e'en to't 
like French falconers, fly at any thing we see : we'll have a 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 55 

speech straight : come, give us a taste of your quahty ; 
come, a passionate speech. 425 

First Player. What speech, my lord ? 

Hamlet. I heard thee speak me a speech once, but it was 
never acted ; or, if it was, not above once ; for the play, I 
remember, pleased not the million ; 'twas caviare to the 
general: but it was — as I received it, and others, whose 
judgements in such matters cried on the top of mine — an 
excellent play, well digested in the scenes, set down with as 
much modesty as cunning. I remember, one said there 
were no sallets in the lines to make the matter savoury, nor 
no matter in the phrase that might indict the author of 
affectation ; but called it an honest method, as wholesome 
as sweet, and by very much more handsome than fine. One 
speech in it I chiefly loved : 'twas yEneas' tale to Dido ; 
and thereabout of it especially, where he speaks of Priam's 
slaughter : if it live in your memory, begin at this line : let 
me see, let me see — 

* The rugged Pyrrhus, like the Hyrcanian beast,' — 

it is not so : — it begins with Pyrrhus : — 

* The rugged Pyrrhus, he whose sable arms, 

Black as his purpose, did the night resemble 445 

When he lay couched in the ominous horse, 
^ Hath now this dread and black complexion smear'd 
With heraldry more dismal; head to foot 
Now is he total gules; horridly trick'd 
With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sOns, 
Baked and impasted with the parching streets, 
That lend a tyrranous and damned light 
To their lord's murder : roasted in wrath and fire, 
And thus o'er-sized with coagulate gore. 
With eyes like carbuncles, the hellish Pyrrhus 
Old grandsire Priam seeks.' 

So, proceed you. 



56 HAMLET, [ACT II. 

Polo7iius. Tore God, my lord, well spoken, with good ac- 
cent and good discretion. 

First Player. * Anon he finds him 

Striking too short at Greeks; his antique sword, 

Rebellious to his arm, lies where it falls, 

Repugnant to command : unequal match'd, 

Pyrrhus at Priam drives; in rage strikes wide; 

But with the whiff and wind of his fell sword 465 

The unnerved father falls. Then senseless Ilium, 

Seeming to feel this blow, with flaming top 

Stoops to his base, and with a hideous crash 

Takes prisoner Pyrrhus' ear : for, lo ! his sword, 

Which was declining on the milky head 

Of reverend Priam, seem'd i' the air to stick : 

So, as a painted tyrant, Pyrrhus stood. 

And like a neutral to his will and matter. 

Did nothing. 

But, as we often see, against some storm, 

A silence in the heavens, the rack stand still. 

The bold winds speechless and the orb below 

As hush as death, anon the dreadful thunder 

Doth rend the region, so, after Pyrrhus' pause. 

Aroused vengeance sets him new a-work; 

And never did the Cyclops' hammers fall 

On Mars's armour forged for proof eterne 

With less remorse than Pyrrhus' bleeding sword 

Now falls on Priam. 

Out, out, thou strumpet. Fortune ! All you gods, 485 

In general synod, take away her power; 

Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel, 

And bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven. 

As low as to the fiends ! ' 

Polonius. Tiiis is too long, 

Hamlet It shall to the barber's, with your beard. Prithee, 
say on : he's for a jig or a tale of bawdry, or he sleeps : say 
on : come to Hecuba. 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 57 

First Player. * But who, O, who had seen the mobled queen — * 

Hamlet. ' The mobled queen ? ' 

Polonius. That's good ; * mobled queen ' is good. 

First Player. * Run barefoot up and down, threatening the flames 

With bisson rheum; a clout about that head 

Where late the diadem stood, and for a robe. 

About her lank and all o'er-teemed loins, 

A blanket, in the alarm of fear caught up; 

Who this had seen, with tongue in venom steep'd, 

'Gainst Fortune's state would treason have pronounced : 

But if the gods themselves did see her then 

When she saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport 505 

In mincing with his sword her husband's limbs. 

The instant burst of clamoinr that she made. 

Unless things mortal move them not at all. 

Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven. 

And passion in the gods.' 

Polonius. Look, whether he has not turned his colour and 
has tears in's eyes. Pray you, no more. 

Hamlet. 'Tis well ; I'll have thee speak out the rest soon. 
Good my lord, will you see the players well bestowed ? Do 
you hear, let them be well used ; for they are the abstract 
and brief chronicles of the time : after your death you were 
better have a bad epitaph than their ill report while you 
live. 

Polonius. My lord, I will use them according to their 
desert. 

Hamlet. God'.s bodykins, man, much better : use every 
man after his desert, and who should 'scape whipping? Use 
them after your own honour and dignity : the less they de- 
serve, the more merit is in your bounty. Take them in. 

Polonius. Come, sirs. 525 

Hamlet. Follow him, friends : we'll hear a play to-mor- 
row. \^Exit Poloniics with all the Players biit the First.~\ 



58 HAMLET, [ACT II. 

Dost thou hear me, old friend ; can you play the Murder of 
Gonzago ? 

First Player. Ay, my lord. 

Hamlet. We'll ha't to-morrow night. You could, for a 
need, study a speech of some dozen or sixteen lines, which 
I would set down and insert in't, could you not? 

First Player. Ay, my lord. 

Hamlet. Very well. Follow that lord ; and look you 
mock him not. \_Exit First Player.'} My good friends, 
I'll leave you till night : you are welcome to Elsinore. 

Rosencrantz. Good my lord ! 

Hamlet. Ay, so, God be wi' ye ; \_Exeunt Rosencrantz 
and Gziildenste7'n.~\ Now I am alone. 
O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I ! 
Is it not monstrous that this player here. 
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion. 
Could force his soul so to his own conceit 
That from her working all his visage wann'd, 545 

Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect, 
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting 
With forms to his conceit ? and all for nothing ! 
For Hecuba \ 

What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, 
That he should weep for her ? What would he do. 
Had he the motive and the cue for passion 
That I have ? He would drown the stage with tears 
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech. 
Make mad the guilty and appal the free. 
Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed 
The very faculties of eyes and ears. 
Yet I, 
A dull and muddy- mettled rascal, peak. 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 59 

Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause, 

And can say nothing ; no, not for a king, 

Upon whose property and most dear life 

A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward ? 

Who calls me villain ? breaks my pate across ? 

Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face ? 565 

Tweaks me by the nose? gives me the lie i' the throat, 

As deep as to the lungs ? who does me this ? 

Ha! 

'Swounds, I should take it : for it cannot be 

But I am pigeon-liver' d and lack gall 

To make oppression bitter, or ere this 

I should have fatted all the region kites 

With this slave's offal : bloody, bawdy villain ! 

Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain ! 

O, vengeance ! 

Why, what an ass am I ! This is most brave. 

That I, the son of a dear father murder'd, 

Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell. 

Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words, 

And fall a-cursing, like a very drab, 

A scullion ! 

Fie upon't ! foh ! About, my brain ! I have heard 

That guilty creatures sitting at a play 

Have by the very cunning of the scene 

Been struck so to the soul that presently 585 

They have proclaim'd their malefactions ; 

For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak 

With most miraculous organ. I'll have these players 

Play something like the murder of my father 

Before mine uncle : I'll observe his looks ; 

I'll tent him to the quick : if he but blench. 



J 

i 

60 HAMLET. [ACT II. : 

,i 

I know my course. The spirit that I have seen [ 

May be the devil : and the devil hath power 

To assume a pleasing shape ; yea, and perhaps 

Out of my weakness and my melancholy, 

As he is very potent with such spirits, 

Abuses me to damn me : I'll have grounds 

More relative than this : the play's the thing 

Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king. [^Exif. 



ACT II.] EXPLANATORY NOTES. 6 1 

EXPLANATORY NOTES. 

Scene i. 

1. 31. . . . "But breathe his faults so quaintly," — so shrewdly, ?,o 

ingettiously. 
1.103. "Whose violent property fordoes itself," — undoes, destroys 

itself. 

Scene 2. 

1, 139. . . . "No, I went round to work," I went roundly, earnestly to 
work. 

1. 315. "We coted them on the way," — we overtook them. 

1. 320. "The clown shall make those laugh whose lungs are tickle 0* 
the sere," — those who are ready to laugh on small provo- 
cation. 

1. 335. "But there is, sir, an aery of children," etc. — but there is, sir, 
a brood of children, young nestlings, who cry out at the 
tops of their voices, etc. 

1. 342. " How are they escoted? " — paid, maintained. 



1.349 
1-367 
1-374 
1.417 
1. 420 
1. 429 

1.449 
1. 476, 
1. 494 
1. 498 
1-563 



" No sin to tarre them to controversy," — to excite them. 

"Let me comply with you," — ■ complimettt, show civility to you. 

" I know a hawk from a handsaw," — a hawk from a heron. 

"Thy face is valanced," — friitged wWh a beard. 

" By the altitude of a chopine," — height of a shoe. 

" It was caviare to the general," — not generally appreciated. 

{caviare, a highly-seasoned delicacy). 
" Now is he total gules," — red, bloody. 
..." The rack stand still," — light clouds. 
"The mobled queen," — muffled, hastily dressed. 
" With bisson rheum," — with blinding tears. 
" A damn'd defeat was made," — ruin, destruction. 



62 HAMLET, [ACT III. 



ACT III. 

Scene I. A room in the castle. . 
Enter King, Queen, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, 

and GUILDENSTERN. 

King. And can you, by no drift of circumstance, 
Get from him why he puts on this confusion. 
Grating so harshly all his days of quiet 
With turbulent and dangerous lunacy? 

Rosencrantz. He does confess he feels himself distracted ; 
But from what cause he v/ill by no means speak. 

Guildenstern. Nor do we find him forward to be sounded. 
But, with a crafty madness, keeps aloof, 
When we would bring him on to some confession 
Of his true state. 

Queen. Did he receive you well? lo 

Rosencrantz. Most like a gentleman. 

Guildenstern. But with much forcing of his disposition. 

Rosencrantz. Niggard of question ; but, of our demands, 
Most free in his reply. 

Queen. Did you assay him 

To any pastime ? 

Rosencrantz. Madam, it so fell out, that certain players 
We o'er-raught on the way : of these we told him ; 
And there did seem in him a kind of joy 
To hear of it : they are about the court. 
And, as I think, they have already order 20 



SCENE I.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 63 

This night to play before him. ♦ 

Polonius. 'Tis most true : 

And he beseech'd me to entreat your majesties 
To hear and see the matter. 

King. With all my heart j and it doth much content me 
To hear him so inclined. 
Good gentlemen, give him a further edge, 
And drive his purpose on to these delights. 

Rosencrantz. We shall, my lord. 

\_Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. 

Kiftg. Sweet Gertrude, leave us too ; 

For we have closely sent for Hamlet hither. 
That he, as 'twere by accident, may here 30 

Affront Ophelia : 

Her father and myself, lawful espials, 
Will so bestow ourselves that, seeing, unseen. 
We may of their encounter frankly judge. 
And gather by him, as he is behaved, * 

If t be the affliction of his love or no 
That thus he suffers for. 

Queen. I shall obey you 

And for your part, Ophelia, I do wish 
That your good beauties be the happy cause 
Of Hamlet's wildness : so shall I hope your virtues . 40 

Will bring him to his wonted way again. 
To both your honours. 

Ophelia. Madam, I wish it may. \_Exif Queen. 

Polonius. Ophelia, walk you here. Gracious, so please you, 
We will bestow ourselves. [To Ophelia'] Read on this book ; 
That show of such an exercise may colour 
Your loneliness. We are oft to blame in this, — 
'Tis too much proved — that with devotion's visage 



64 HAMLET, [ACT III. 

And pious action we do sugar o'er 
The devil .himself. 

King. \Aside\ O, 'tis too true ! 
How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience ! 50 
The harlot's cheek, beautied with plastering art, 
Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it 
Than is my deed to my most painted word : 
O heavy burthen ! 

Polonius. I hear him coming ; let's withdraw, my lord. 

[Exeunt King and Polonius.^ 

Enter Hamlet. 

Hamlet. To be, or not to be : that is the question : 
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer 
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. 
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles. 
And by opposing end them ? To die : to sleep ; 60 

No more ; and by a sleep to say we end 
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks ^ 
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation 
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep ; 
To sleep : perchance to dream : ay, there's the rub ; 
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come 
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, 
Must give us pause : there's the respect 
That makes calamity of so long life ; 

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, 70 

The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, 
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, 
The insolence of office, and the spurns 
That patient merit of the unworthy takes. 
When he himself might his quietus make 



SCENE I.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 65 

With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear, 
To grunt and sweat under a weary life, 
But that the dread of something after death, 
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn 
No traveller returns, puzzles the will 80 

And makes us rather bear those ills we have 
Than fly to others that we know not of? 
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all ; 
And thus the native hue of resolution 
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, 
And enterprises of great pith and moment 
With this regard their currents turn awry, 
.^d lose the name of action. — Soft you now ! 
The fair Opheha ! Nymph, in thy orisons 
Be all my sins remember'd. 

Ophelia. Good my lord, 90 

How does your honour for this many a day? 

Hamlet. I humbly thank you ; well, well, well. 

Ophelia. My lord, I have remembrances of yours, 
That I have longed long to re-deliver; 
I pray you, now receive them. 

Hamlet. No, not I ; 

I never gave you aught. 

Ophelia. My honour'd lord, I know right well you did ; 
And with them, words of so sweet breath composed 
As made the things more rich : their perfume lost, 
Take these again ; for to the noble mind 100 

Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind. 
There, my lord. 

Hamlet. Ha, ha ! are you honest? 

Ophelia. My lord ? 

Hamlet. Are you fair? 

Ophelia. What means your lordship ? 



66 HAMLET, [ACT III. 

Hamlet. That if you be honest and fair, your honesty 
should admit no discourse to your beauty. 

Ophelia. Could beauty, my lord, have better commerce 
than with honesty? no 

Hamlet. Ay, truly ; for the power of beauty will sooner 
transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the force 
of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness : this was 
sometime a paradox, but now the time gives it proof. I did 
love you once. 

Ophelia. Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so. 

Hamlet. You should not have believed me ; for virtue 
cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it : 
I loved you not. 

Ophelia. I was the more deceived. 120 

Hamlet. Get thee to a nunnery : why wouldst thou be a 
breeder of sinners ? I am myself indifferent honest ; but yet 
I could accuse me of such things that it were better my 
mother had not borne me : I am very proud, revengeful, 
ambitious, with more offences at my beck than I have 
thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or 
time so act them in. What should such fellows as I do 
crawling between earth and heaven? We are arrant knaves, 
all ; believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery. 
Where's your father? 130 

Ophelia. At home, my lord. 

Hamlet. Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may 
play the fool no where but in's own house. Farewell. 

Ophelia. O, help him, you sweet heavens ! 

Hamlet. If thou dost marry, I'll give thee this plague for 
thy dowry : be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou 
shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery, go : 
farewell. Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool ; for 



SCENE I.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 6/ 

wise men know well enough what monsters you make of 
them. To a nunnery, go, and quickly too. Farewell. 140 

Ophelia. O heavenly powers, restore him ! 

Hajnlef. I have heard of your paintings too, well enough ; 
God has given you one face, and you make yourselves an- 
other : you jig, you amble, and you hsp, and nickname 
God's creatures, and make your wantonness your ignorance. 
Go to, I'll no more on't ; it hath made me mad. I say, we 
will have no more marriages : those that are married already, 
all but one, shall live ; the rest shall keep as they are. To 
a nunnery, go. \_Exit. 

Ophelia. O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown ! 150 
The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword ; 
The expectancy and rose of the fair state. 
The glass of fashion and the mould of form. 
The observed of all observers, quite, quite down"! 
And I, of ladies most deject and wretched, 
That suck'd the honey of his music vows. 
Now see that noble and most sovereign reason. 
Like sweet bells jangled out of tune, and harsh ; 
That unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth 
Blasted with ecstasy ; O, woe is me, 160 

To have seen what I have seen, see what I see ! 

Re-enter King and Polonius. 

King. Love ! his affections do not that way tend ; 
Nor what he spake, though it lack'd form a little. 
Was not like madness. There's something in his soul, 
O'er which his melancholy sits on brood ; 
And I do doubt the hatch and the disclose 
Will be some danger : which for to prevent, 
I have in quick determination 



68 HAMLET, [ACT III. 

Thus set it down : he shall with speed to England, 

For the demand of our neglected tribute : 170 

Haply the seas and countries different 

With variable objects shall expel 

This something-settled matter in his heart, 

Whereon his brains still beating puts him thus 

From fashion of himself. What think you on't ? 

Polo7iius. It shall do well : but yet do I believe 
The origin and commencement of his grief 
Sprung from neglected love. How now, Ophelia ! 
You need not tell us what Lord Hamlet said ; 
We heard it all. My lord, do as you please ; 180 

But, if you hold it fit, after the play 
Let his queen mother all alone entreat him 
To show his grief : let her be round with him ; 
And I'll be placed, so please you, in the ear 
Of all their conference. If she find him not, 
To England send him, or confine him where 
Your wisdom best shall think. 

King. It shall be so : 

Madness in great ones must not unwatch'd go. \_Bxeunf. 



Scene II. A hall in the castle. 

],«/* Enter Hamlet and Players. 

Hamlet. Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced 
it to you, trippingly on the tongue : but if you mouth it, as 
many of your players do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke 
my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, 
thus, but use all gently ; for in the very torrent, tempest, and, 
as I may say, the whirlwind of passion, you must acquire 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 69 

and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness. O, it 
offends me to the soul to hear a robustious periwig-pated 
fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears 
of the groundlings, who for the most part are capable of 
nothing but inexplicable dumb- shows and noise : I would 
have such a fellow whipped for o'erdoing Termagant; it 
out-herods Herod : pray you, avoid it. 13 

First Player. I warrant your honour. 

Hamlet. Be not too tame neither, but let your own discre- 
tion be your tutor : suit the action to the word, the word to 
the action ; with this special observance, that you o'erstep 
not the modesty of nature : for any thing so overdone is from 
the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, 
was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature ; to 
show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the 
very age and body of the time his form and pressure^ Now 
this overdone, or come tardy off, though it makes the' unskil- 
ful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve ; the censure 
of the which one must in your allowance o'erweigh a whole 
theatre of others. O, there be players that I have seen play, 
and heard others praise, and that highly, not to speak it pro- 
fanely, that, neither having the accent of Christians nor the 
gait of Christian, pagan, nor man, have so strutted and bel- 
lowed that I have thought some of nature's journeymen had 
made men and not made them well, they imitated humanity 
so abominably. 32 

First Player. I hope we have reformed that indifferently 
with us, sir. 

Hamlet. O, reform it altogether. And let those that play 
your clowns speak no more than is set down for them ; for 
there be of them that will themselves laugh, to set on some 
quantity of barren spectators to laugh too ; though, in the 



70 HAMLET, [ACT III. 

mean time, some necessary question of the play be then to 
be considered : that's villanous, and shows a most pitiful 
ambition in the fool that uses it. Go, make you ready. 41 

[ Exeunt Players. 

Enter Polonius, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern. 

How now, my lord ! will the king hear this piece of work ? 

Polonius. And the queen too, and that presently. 

Hamlet. Bid the players make haste. \_Exit Polonius. 
Will you two help to hasten them ? 

Rosencj-antz. 



We will, my lord. 
Guildenstern. ) 

\_Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. 
Hamlet. What ho ! Horatio ! 

Enter Horatio. 

Horatio. Here, sweet lord, at your service. 

Hamlet. Horatio, thou art e'en as just a man 
As e'er my conversation coped withal. 50 

Horatio. O, my dear lord, — 

Hamlet. Nay, do not think I flatter ; 

For what advancement may I hope from thee 
That no revenue hast but thy good spirits, 
To feed and clothe thee ? Why should the poor be flatter'd ? 
No, let the candid tongue lick absurd pomp, 
And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee 
Where thrift may follow fawning. Dost thou hear? 
Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice 
And could of men distinguish, her election 
Hath seal'd thee for herself; for thou hast been 60 

As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing, 
A man that fortune's buffets and rewards 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 7 1 

Hath ta'en with equal thanks : and blest are those 

Whose blood and judgement are so well commingled, 

That they are not a pipe for Fortune's finger 

To sound what stop she please. Give me that man 

That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him 

In my heart's core, ay, in my heart of heart, 

As I do thee. — Something too much of this. — 

There is a play to-night before the king ; 70 

One scene of it comes near the circumstance 

Which I have told thee of my father's death : 

I prithee, when thou seest that act afoot, 

Even with the very comment of thy soul 

Observe mine uncle : if his occulted guilt 

Do not itself unkennel in one speech. 

It is a damned ghost that we have seen, 

And my imaginations are as foul 

As Vulcan's stithy. Give him heedful note ; 

For I mine eyes will rivet to his face, 80 

And after we will both our judgements join 

In censure of his seeming. 

Horatio. Well, my lord : 

If he steal aught the whilst this play is playing. 
And 'scape detecting, I will pay the theft. 

Hamlet. They are coming to the play ; I must be idle : 
Get you a place. 

Danish mai'ch. A flourish. Enter King, Queen, Polonius, 
Ophelia, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and others. 

King. How fares our cousin Hamlet ? 
Hamlet. Excellent, i' faith ; of the chameleon's dish : I 
eat the air, promise-crammed : you cannot feed capons so. 



72 HAMLET, [act hi. 

King. I have nothing with this answer, Hamlet; these 
words are not mine. 91 

Hamlet No, nor mine now. \To Polomus~\ My lord, 
you played once i' the university, you say ? 

Polonius. That did I, my lord ; and was accounted a good 
actor. 

Hamlet. What did you enact? 

Polonius. I did enact Julius Caesar : I was killed i' the 
Capitol ; Brutus killed me. 

Hamlet It was a brute part of him to kill so capital a 
calf there. Be the players ready? 100 

Rosencrantz. Ay, my lord ; they stay upon your patience. 

Queen. Come hither, my dear Hamlet, sit by me. 

Hajnlet No, good mother, here's metal more attractive. 

PoloniiLs. \To the King\ O, ho ! do you mark that ? 

Ha?nlet. Lady, shall I lie in your lap ? 

\_Lying down at Ophelia's feet 

Ophelia. No, my lord. 

Hamlet I mean, my head upon your lap ? 

Ophelia. Ay, my lord. 

Hamlet Do you think I meant country matters ? 

Ophelia. I think nothing, my lord. no 

Hamlet That's a fair thought to lie between maids' legs. 

Ophelia. What is, my lord ? 

Hainlet Nothing. 

Ophelia. You are merry, my lord. 

Hamlet Who, I? 

Ophelia. Ay, my lord. 

Hamlet. O God, your only jig- maker. What should a 
man do but be merry? for, look you, how cheerfully my 
mother looks, and my father died within these two hours. 

Ophelia. Nay, 'tis twice two months, my lord. 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 73 

Hamlet. So long? Nay then, let the devil wear black, 
for I'll have a suit of sables. O heavens ! die two months 
ago, and not forgotten yet? Then there's hope a great 
man's memory may outlive his life half a year : but, by'r 
lady, he must build churches, then ; or else shall he suffer 
not thinking on, with the hobby-horse, whose epitaph is 
* For, O, for, O, the hobby-horse is forgot ! ' 127 

Haittboys play. The dumb-show enters. 

Enter a King and a Queen very lovingly ; the Queen em- 
bracing him, and he her. She kneels, and makes show of 
protestation unto him. He takes her up, and declines his 
head upon her neck : lays him down upon a bank of flow- 
ers : she, seeing him asleep, leaves him. Anon comes in a 
fellow, takes off his crown, kisses it, and pours poison in 
the King's ears, and exit. The Queen returns ; finds the 
King dead, and makes passionate action. The Poisoner, 
with some two or three Mutes, comes in again, seeming to 
lament with her. The dead body is carj'ied away. The 
Poisoner wooes the Queen with gifts : she seems loath and 
unwilling awhile, but in the end accepts his love. \_Exeunt. 

Ophelia. What means this, my lord? 

Hamlet. Marry, this is miching mallecho ; it means mis- 
chief. 

Ophelia. Belike this show imports the argument of the 
play? 

Enter Prologue. 

Hamlet. We shall know by this fellow : the players can- 
not keep counsel ; they'll tell all. 

Ophelia. Will he tell us what this show meant? 



74 HAMLET, [act III. 

Hamlet. Ay, or any show that you'll show him : be not 

you ashamed to show, he'll not shame to tell you what it 

means. 15° 

Ophelia. You are naught, you are naught : I'll mark the 

play. 

Prologue. For us, and for our tragedy, 

Here stooping to your clemency, 

We beg your hearing patiently. \_Exit, 

Hamlet Is this a prologue, or the posy of a ring? 
Ophelia. 'Tis brief, my lord. 
Hamlet. As woman's love. 

Enter two Players, King and Queen. 

Player King. Full thirty times hath Phoebus' cart gone round 
Neptune's salt wash and Tellus' orbed ground, 
And thirty dozen moons with borrow'd sheen 
About the world have times twelve thirties been. 
Since love our hearts and Hymen did our hands 
Unite commutual in most sacred bands. 

Player Queen. So many journeys may the sun and moon 
Make us again count o'er ere love be done ! 
But, woe is me, you are so sick of late, 
So far from cheer and from your former state, 
That I distrust you. Yet, though I distrust, 

Discomfort you, my lord, it nothing must : 170 

For women's fear and love holds quantity; 
In neither aught, or in extremity. 
Now, what my love is, proof hath made you know; 
And as my love is sized, my fear is so : 
Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear; 
Where little fears grow great, great love grows there. 

Player King. 'Faith, I must leave thee, love, and shortly too ; 
My operant powers their functions leave to do : 
And thou shalt live in this fair world behind, 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 75 

Honour'd, beloved; and haply one as kind 
For husband shalt thou — 

Flayer Queen. O, confound the rest ! 

Such love must needs be treason in my breast : 
In second husband let me be accurst ! 
None wed the second but who kill'd the first. 

Hamlet. \_Aside'\ Wormwood, wormwood ! 

Player Queen. The instances that second marriage move 
Are base respects of thrift, but none of love : 
A second time I kill my husband dead, 
When second husband kisses me in bed. 190 

Player King. I do believe you think what now you speak; 
But what we do determine oft we break. 
Purpose is but the slave to memory, 
Of violent birth, but poor validity : 
Which now, like fruit unripe, sticks on the tree; 
But fall, unshaken, when they mellow be. 
Most necessary 'tis that we forget 
To pay ourselves what to ourselves is debt : 
What to ourselves in passion we propose, 
The passion ending, doth the purpose lose. 
The violence of either grief or joy 
Their own enactures with themselves destroy : 
Where joy most revels, grief doth most lament; 
Grief joys, joy grieves, on slender accident. 
This world is not for aye, nor 'tis not strange 
That even our loves should with our fortunes change; 
For 'tis a question left us yet to prove, 
Whether love lead fortune or else fortune love. 
The great man down, you mark his favourite flies; 
The poor advanced makes friends of enemies. 210 

And hitherto doth love on fortune tend; 
For who not needs shall never lack a friend, 
And who in want a hollow friend doth try, 
Directly seasons him his enemy. 
But, orderly to end where I begun. 
Our wills and fates do so contrary run 



76 HAMLET, [ACT III. 

That our devices still are overthrown; 

Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own : 

So think thou wilt no second husband wed; 

But die thy thoughts when thy first lord is dead. 

Player Queen. Nor earth to me give food, nor heaven light ! 
Sport and repose lock from me day and night ! 
To desperation turn my trust and hope ! 
An anchor's cheer in prison be my scope ! 
Each opposite that blanks the face of joy 
Meet what I would have well and it destroy ! 
Both here and hence pursue me lasting strife, 
If, once a widow, ever I be wife ! 

Hamlet. If she should break it now ! 

Player King. 'Tis deeply sworn. Sweet, leave me here a while; 
My spirits grow dull, and fain I wovdd beguile 231 

The tedious day with sleep. \ Sleeps, 

Player Queen. Sleep rock thy brain; 

And never come mischance between us twain ! [£xif, 

Hamlet. Madam, how like you this play ? 

Queen. The lady protests too much, methinks. 

Hamlet. O, but she'll keep her word. 

King. Have you heard the argument? Is there no of- 
fence in't? 

Hamlet. No, no, they do but jest, poison in jest ; no of- 
fence i' the world. 

King. What do you call the play? 

Hamlet. The Mouse-trap. Marry, how ? Tropically. This 
play is the image of a murder done in Vienna : Gonzago is 
the duke's name ; his wife, Baptista : you shall see anon ; 
'tis a knavish piece of work : but what o' that? your majesty 
and we that have free souls, it touches us not : let the galled 
jade wince, our withers are unwrung. 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 77 

Enter Lucianus. 

This is one Lucianus, nephew to the king. 

Ophelia. You are as good as a. chorus, my lord. 249 

Hamlet. I could interpret between you and your love, if 
I could see the puppets dallying. 

Ophelia. You are keen, my lord, you are keen. 

Hamlet. It would cost you a groaning to take off my edge. 

Ophelia. Still better, and worse. 

Hamlet. So you must take your husbands. Begin, mur- 
derer ; pox, leave thy damnable faces, and begin. Come : 
* the croaking raven doth bellow for revenge.' 

Lucianus. Thoughts black, hands apt, drugs fit, and time agreeing; 
Confederate season, else no creature seeing; 
Thou mixture rank, of midnight weeds collected, 
With Hecate's ban thrice blasted, thrice infected, 
Thy natural magic and dire property, 
On wholesome life usurp immediately. 

\_Fours the poison into the sleeper's ears, 

Hamlet. He poisons him i' the garden for 's estate. His 
name's Gonzago : the story is extant, and writ in choice 
Italian : you shall see anon how the murderer gets the 
love of Gonzago 's wife. 

Ophelia. The king rises. 

Hamlet. What, frighted with false fire ! 

Queen. How fares my lord? . . 270 

Polonius. Give o'er the play. 

King. Give me some light : away ! 

All. Lights, lights, lights ! 

\_Exeuitt all but Hamlet and Horatio. 

Hamlet. Why, let the stricken deer go weep, 
The hart ungalled play ; 



78 HAMLET, [ACT III. 

For some must watch, while some must sleep : 
So runs the world away. 
Would not this, sir, and a forest of feathers ■ — if the rest of 
my fortunes turn Turk with me — with two Provincial roses 
on my razed shoes, get me a fellowship in a cry of players, 
sir? 

Horatio. Half a share. 
Hamlet. A whole one, I. 

For thou dost know, O Damon dear, 

This realm dismantled was 
Of Jove himself; and now reigns here 
A very, very — pajock. 
Horatio. You might have rhymed. 

Hamlet. O good Horatio, I'll take the ghost's word for a 
thousand pound. Didst perceive ? 290 

Horatio. Very well, my lord. 
Hamlet. Upon the talk of the poisoning? 
Horatio. I did very well note him. 

Hamlet. Ah, ha ! Come, some music ! come, the record- 
ers ! 

For if the king like not the comedy. 
Why then, behke, he likes it not, perdy. 
Come, some music ! 

Re-enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. 

Guildenstern. Good my lord, vouchsafe me a word with 
you. 

Hamlet. Sir, a whole history. 

Guildenstern. The king, sir, — 

Hamlet. Ay, sir, what of him ? 

Guildenstern. Is in his retirement marvellous distem- 
pered. 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 79 

Hamlet. With drink, sir? 

Guildenstern. No, my lord, rather with choler. 

Hainlet. Your wisdom should show itself more richer to 
signify this to his doctor ; for, for ine to put him to his pur- 
gation would perhaps plunge him into far more choler. 

Guildenstern, Good my lord, put your discourse into some 
frame, and start not so wildly from my affair. 310 

Hamlet. I am tame, sir : pronounce. 

Guildenstern. The queen, your mother, in most great 
affliction of spirit, hath sent me to you. 

Hamlet. You are welcome. 

Guildenstern. Nay, good my lord, this courtesy is not 
of the right breed. If it shall please you to make me a 
wholesome answer, I w^U do your mother's commandment : 
if not, your pardon and my return shall be the end of my 
business. 

Hamlet. Sir, I cannot. 

Guildenstern. What, my lord? 

Hamlet. Make you a wholesome answer ; my wit*s dis- 
eased : but, sir, such answer as I can make, you shall com- 
mand ; or, rather, as you say, my mother : therefore no 
more, but to the matter : my mother, you say, — 

Rosecrantz. Then thus she says ; your behaviour hath 
struck her into amazement and admiration. 

Hamlet. O wonderful son, that can so astonish a mother ! 
But is there no sequel at the heels of this mother's admira- 
tion ? Impart. 330 

Rosencrantz. She desires to speak with you in her closet, 
ere you go to bed. 

Hamlet. We shall obey, were she ten times our mother. 
Have you any further trade with us? 

Rosencrantz. My lord, you once did love me. 



So HAMLET, [ACT III. 

Hafnlet. So I do still, by these pickers and stealers. 

Rosencrantz. Good my lord, what is your cause of dis- 
temper ? you do, surely, bar the door upon your own liberty, 
if you deny your griefs to your friend. 

JIa?nlef. Sir, I lack advancement. 

Rosenc7'antz. How can that be, when you have the voice 
of the king himself for your succession in Denmark? 

Hamlef. Ay, sir, but, 'while the grass grows,' — the proverb 
is something musty. 

Re-enter Players with recoi'ders. 

O, the recorders ! let me see one. To withdraw with 
you : — why do you go about to recover the wind of me, as 
if you would drive me into a toil? 

Guitde?tste?"n. O, my lord, if my duty be too bold, my 
love is too unmannerly. 349 

Hamlet. I do not well understand that. Will you play 
upon this pipe? 

Guildenstern. My lord, I cannot. 

Hamlet. I pray you. 

Guildejistern. Believe me, I cannot. 

Hamlet. I do beseech you. 

Guildenstef'fi. I know no touch of it, my lord. 

Hamlet. 'Tis as easy as lying : govern these ventages 
with your fingers and thumb, give it breath with your mouth, 
and it will discourse most eloquent music. Look you, these 
are the stops. 

Guildenster7i. But these cannot I command to any utter- 
ance of harmony ; I have not the skill. 

Hamlet. Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you 
make of me ! You would play upon me ; you would seem 
to know my stops ; you would pluck out the heart of my 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 8 1 

mystery ; you would sound me from my lowest note to the 
top of my compass : and there is much music, excellent 
voice, in this little organ; yet cannot you make it speak. 
'Sblood, do you think I am easier to be played on than a 
pipe ? Call me what instrument you will, though you can 
fret me, you cannot play upon me. 371 

Enter Polonius. 

God bless you, sir ! 

Polo7ims. My lord, the queen would speak with you, and 
presently. 

Hamlet Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape 
of a camel ? 

Polonms. By the mass, and 'tis like a camel, indeed. 

Ha77ilet. Methinks it is like a weasel. 

Polonius. It is backed like a weasel. 

Hamlet. Or like a whale ? 380 

Polonius. Very like a whale. 

Ha77ilet. Then will I come to my mother by and by. 
They fool me to the top of my bent. I will come by and by. 

Polonius. I will say so. 

Hamlet. By and by is easily said. \_Exit Polonius. 

Leave me, friends. \_Exeunt all but Ha7nlet. 

'Tis now the very witching time of night. 
When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out 
Contagion to this world : now could I drink hot blood, 
And do such bitter business as the day 
Would quake to look on. Soft ! now to my mother. 

heart, lose not thy nature ; let not ever 
The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom : 
Let me be cruel, not unnatural : 

1 will speak daggers to her, but use none ; 



82 HAMLET, [ACT III. 

My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites ; 

How in my words soever she be shent, 397 

To give them seals never, my soul, consent ! \_Exif, 



Scene III. A room in the castle. 
Enter King, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern. 

King. I like him not, nor stands it safe with us 
To let his madness range. Therefore prepare you ; 
I your commission will forthwith dispatch, 
And he to England shall along with you : 
The terms of our estate may not endure 
Hazard so near us as doth hourly grow 
Out of his lunacies. 

Guildenstern. We will ourselves provide : 

Most holy and religious fear it is 
To keep those many many bodies safe 
That live and feed upon your majesty. 

Rosencrantz. The single and peculiar life is bound, 
With all the strength and armour of the mind. 
To keep itself from noyance ; but much more 
That spirit upon whose weal depend and rest 
The lives of many. The cease of majesty 
Dies not alone ; but, like a gulf, doth draw 
What's near it with it : it is a massy wheel, 
Fix'd on the summit of the highest mount. 
To whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser things 
Are mortised and adjoin'd ; which, when it falls. 
Each small annexment, petty*consequence, 
Attends the boisterous ruin. Never alone 



SCENE III.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 8^ 

Did the king sigh, but with a general groan. 

Xi??g. Arm you, I pray you, to this speedy voyage ; 

For we will fetters put upon this fear, 

Which now goes too free-footed. 

Rosencraniz. ) ,,. 

„ ., , \ We will haste us. 

LrUilaenstern. ) 

\Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, 
Enter Polonius. 

Polonius. My lord, he's going to his mother's closet : 
Behind the arras I'll convey myself, 
To hear the process ; I'll warrant she'll tax him home : 
And, as you said, and wisely was it said, 30 

'Tis meet that some more audience than a mother, 
Since nature makes them partial, should o'erhear 
The speech, of vantage. Fare you well, my liege : 
I'll call upon you ere you go to bed. 
And tell you what I know. 

Kmg. Thanks, dear my lord. 

\_Exit Polonius. 
O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven ; 
It hath the primal eldest curse upon't, 
A brother's murder. Pray can I not. 
Though inclination be as sharp as will : 
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent ; 40 

And, like a man to double business bound, 
I stand in pause where I shall first begin. 
And both neglect. What if this cursed hand 
Were thicker than itself with brother's blood, 
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens 
To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy 
But to confront the visage of offence ? 



84 HAMLET, [ACT in. 

And what's in prayer but this two fold force, 

To be forestalled ere we come to fall, 

Or pardon'd being down? Then I'll look up ; 50 

My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer 

Can serve my turn? ' Forgive me my foul murder?' 

That cannot be ; since I am still possess'd 

Of those effects for which I did the murder, 

My crown, mine own ambition and my queen. 

May one be pardon'd and retain the offence? 

In the corrupted currents of this world 

Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice, 

And oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itself 

Buys out the law : but 'tis not so above ; 60 

There is no shuffling, there the action lies 

In his true nature ; and we ourselves compell'd, 

Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults, J 

To give in evidence. What then? what rests? 

Try what repentance can : what can it not? 

Yet what can it when one cannot repent? 

O wretched state ! O bosom black as death ! 

O limed soul, that, struggling to be free. 

Art more engaged ! Help, angels ! Make assay ! 

Bow, stubborn knees ; and, heart with strings of steel, 70 

Be soft as sinews of a new-born babe ! 

All may be well. \_Retires and kneels. 

Enter Hamlet. 

Hamlet. Now might I do it pat, now he is praying ; 
And now I'll do't. And so he goes to heaven ; 
And so am I revenged. That would be scann'd : 
A villain kills my father ; and for that, 
I, his sole son, do this same villain send 



SCENE IV.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 85 

To heaven. 

O, this is hire and salary, not revenge. 

He took my father grossly, full of bread ; 80 

With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May ; 
And how his audit stands who knows save heaven? 
But in our circumstance and course of thought, 
'Tis heavy with him : and am I then revenged, 
To take him in the purging of his soul, 
When he is fit and season'd for his passage ? 
No! 

Up, sword ; and know thou a more horrid hent : 
When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage. 
Or in the incestuous pleasure of his bed ; 90 

At gaming, swearing, or about some act 
That has no relish of salvation in't ; 
Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven, 
And that his soul may be as damn'd and black 
As hell, whereto it goes. . My mother stays : 
This physic but prolongs thy sickly days. \_Exit. 

King. \Rising\ My words fly up, my thoughts remain be- 
low : 
Words without thoughts never to heaven go. \_Exit. 



Scene IV. The Queen^s closet 

Enter Queen and Polonius. 

Polonius. He will come straight. Look you lay home to 
him : 
Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with. 
And that your grace hath screen'd and stood between 



86 HAMLET, [ACT III. 

Much heat and him. I'll sconce me even here. 
Pray you, be round with him. 

Hainlet. [ Within] Mother, mother, mother ! 

Queen. I'll warrant you. 

Fear me not : withdraw, I hear him coming. 

\_Po/onius hides behind the arras. 

Enter Hamlet. 

Hamlet. Now, mother, what's the matter? 

Queen. Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended. 

Hamlet. Mother, you have my father much offended. lo 

Queen. Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue. 

Hamlet. Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue. 

Queen. Why, how now, Hamlet ! 

Hamlet. What's the matter now ? 

Queen. Have you forgot me ? 

Hamlet. No, by the rood, not so : 

You are the queen, your husband's brother's wife ; 
And — would it were not so ! — you are my mother. 

Queen. Nay, then, I'll set those to you that can speak. 

Ha7filet. Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not 
budge ; 
You go not till I set you up a glass 
Where you may see the inmost part of you. 20 

Queen. What wilt thou do ? thou wilt not murder me ? 
Help, help, ho ! 

Polonius. \_Behind~\ W^hat, ho ! help, help, help ! 

Hamlet. \_D?'awing~\ How now ! a rat ? Dead, for a ducat, 
dead ! \_Makes a pass through the arras, 

Polonius. \Behind~\ O, I am slain ! \_Falls and dies. 

Queen. O me, what hast thou done? 



I 



SCENE IV.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 87 

Ha7nlet. Nay, I know not : 

Is it the king? 

Queen. O, what a rash and bloody deed is this ! 

Hamlet. A bloody deed ! almost as bad, go§d mother, 
As kill a king, and marry with his brother. 

Queen. As kill a king ! 

Hamlet. Ay, lady, 'twas my word. 30 

\Lifts up the arras and discovers Polonius. 
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell ! 
I took thee for thy better : take thy fortune ; 
Thou find'st to be too busy in some danger. 
Leave wringing of your hands : peace ! sit you down. 
And let me wring your heart ; for so I shall. 
If it be made of penetrable stuff, 
If damned custom have not brass'd it so 
That it be proof and bulwark against sense. 

Queen. What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue 
In noise so rude against me ? 

Hamlet. Such an act 40 

That blurs the grace and blush of modesty, 
Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose 
From the fair forehead of an innocent love 
And sets a blister there, makes marriage-vows 
As false as dicers' oaths : O, such a deed 
As from the body of contraction plucks 
The very soul, and sweet religion makes 
A rhapsody of words : heaven's face doth glow ; 
Yea, this solidity and compound mass. 

With tristful visage, as against the doom, 50 

Is thought-sick at the act. 

Queen. Ay me, what act. 

That roars so loud, and thunders in the index? 



88 



HAMLET. 



[act III. 



Hamlet. Look here, upon this picture, and on this, 
The counterfeit presentment of two brothers. 
See, what a grace was seated on this brow ; 
Hyperion's jcurls ; the front of Jove himself; 
An eye Kke Mars, to threaten and command ; 
A station like the herald Mercury 
New- lighted on a heaven-kissing hill ; 

A combination and a form indeed, 60 

Where every god did seem to set his seal, 
To give the world assurance of a man : 
This was your husband. Look you now, what follows : 
Here is your husband ; like a mildew'd ear, 
Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes ? 
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed. 
And batten on this moor ? Ha ! have you eyes ? 
You cannot call it love ; for at your age 
The hey-day in the blood is tame, it's humble. 
And waits upon the judgement : and what judgement 70 

Would step from this to this? Sense, sure, you have, 
Else could you not have motion ; but sure, that sense 
Is apoplex'd ; for madness would not err, 
Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thrall'd 
But it reserved some quantity of choice. 
To serve in such a difference. What devil was't 
That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman- blind ? 
Eyes without feeling, feehng without sight. 
Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all, 
Or but a sickly part of one true sense 80 

Could not so mope. 

O shame ! where is thy blush ? Rebellious hell. 
If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones, 
To flaming youth let virtue be as wax. 



SCENE IV.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 89 

And melt in her own fire : proclaim no shame 
When the compulsive ardour gives the charge. 
Since frost itself as actively doth burn 
And reason panders will. 

Queen. O Hamlet, speak no more : 

Thou turn'st mine eyes into ray very soul ; 
And there I see such black and grained spots 90 

As will not leave their tinct. 

Hamlet Nay, but to live 

In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed, 
Stew'd in corruption, honeying and making love 
Over the nasty sty, — 

Queen. O, speak to me no more ; 

These words, like daggers, enter in mine ears j 
No more, sweet Hamlet ! 

Hamlet. A murderer and a villain ; 

A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe 
Of your precedent lord ; a vice of kings ; 
A cutpurse of the empire and the rule. 

That from a shelf the precious diadem stole, 100 

And put it in his pocket ! 

Queen. No more ! 

Hamlet. A king of shreds and patches, — 

Enter Ghost. 

Save me, and hover o'er me with your wings. 

You heavenly guards ! What would your gracious figure ? 

Queen. Alas, he's mad ! 

Hamlet. Do you not come your tardy son to chide, 
That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go by 
The important acting of your dread command ? 
O, say ! 



90 HAMLET, [ACT III. 

Ghost. Do not forget : This visitation no 

Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose. 
But, look, amazement on thy mother sits : 
O, step between her and her fighting soul : 
Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works : 
Speak to her, Hamlet. 

Hamlet. How is it with you, lady? 

Queen. Alas, how is't with you. 
That you do bend your eye on vacancy 
And with the incorporal air do hold discourse ? 
Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep ; 
And, as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm, 120 

Your bedded hair, like life in excrements. 
Start up, and stand an end. O gentle son. 
Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper 
Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look? 

Hamlet. On him, on him ! Look you, how pale he glares ! 
His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones. 
Would make them capable. Do not look upon me ; 
Lest with this piteous action you convert 
My stern effects : then what I have to do 
Will want true colour ; tears perchance for blood. 130 

Queen. To whom do you speak this ? 

Hamlet. Do you see nothing there ? 

Queen. Nothing at all ; yet all that is I see. 

Hamlet. Nor did you nothing hear? 

Queen. No, nothing but ourselves. 

Hamlet. Why, look you there ! look, how it steals away ! 
My father, in his habit as he lived ! 
Look, where he goes, even now, out at the portal ! 

[^Exit Ghost, 

Queen. This is the very coinage of your brain : 



SCENE IV.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 91 

This bodiless creation ecstasy 
Is very cunning in. 

Hamlet. Ecstasy ! 

My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time, 140 

And makes as healthful music : it is not madness 
That I have utter'd : bring me to the test. 
And I the matter will re-word ; which madness 
Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace, 
Lay not that flattering unction to your soul, 
That not your trespass, but my madness speaks : 
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place, 
Whiles rank corruption, mining all within. 
Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven ; 
Repent what's past ; avoid what is to come ; 150 

And do not spread the compost on the weeds, 
To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue ; 
For in the fatness of these pursy times 
Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg, 
Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good. 

Queen. O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain. 

Hamlet. O, throw away the worser part of it. 
And live the purer with the other half. 
Good night : but go not to mine uncle's bed ; 
Assume a virtue, if you have it not. i6o 

That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat, 
Of habits devil, is angel yet in this. 
That to the use of actions fair and good 
He likewise gives a frock or livery. 
That aptly is put on. Refrain to-night. 
And that shall lend a kind of easiness 
To the next abstinence : the next more easy ; 
For use almost can change'the stamp of nature, 



92 HAMLET, [act hi. 

And either master the devil, or throw him out 

With wondrous potency. Once more, good night : 170 

And when you are desirous to be bless'd, 

I'll blessing beg of you. For this same lord, 

\_Pointing to Polonius. 
I do repent : but heaven hath pleased it so. 
To punish me with this and this with me. 
That I must be their scourge and minister. 
I will bestow him, and will answer well 
The death I gave him. So, again, good night. 
I must be cruel, only to be kind : 
Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind. 
One word more, good lady. 180 

Queen. What shall I do ? 

Hamlet. Not this, by no means, that I bid you do : 
Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed ; 
Pinch wanton on your cheek ; call you his mouse ; 
And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses, 
Or paddling in your neck with his damn'd fingers, 
Make you to ravel all this matter out. 
That I essentially am not in madness. 
But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know ; 
For who, that's but a queen, fair, sober, wise, 190 

Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib, 
Such dear concernings hide ? who would do so ? 
No, in despite of sense and secrecy. 
Unpeg the basket on the house's top. 
Let the birds fly, and, like the famous ape. 
To try conclusions, in the basket creep. 
And break your own neck down. 

Queen. Be thou assured, if words be made of breath, 
And breath of hfe, I have no life to breathe 



SCENE IV.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 93 

What thou hast said to me. 200 

Hamlet. I must to England ; you know that ? 
Queen. Alack, 

I had forgot : 'tis so concluded on. 

Hamlet. There's letters seal'd : and my two school- 
fellows, 

Whom I will trust as I will adders fang'd. 

They bear the mandate ; they must sweep my way, 

And marshal me to knavery. Let it work ; 

For 'tis the sport to have the enginer 

Hoist with his own petar : and 't shall go hard 

But I will delve one yard below their mines. 

And blow them at the moon : O, 'tis most sweet, 210 

When in one line two crafts directly meet. 

This man shall set me packing : 

I'll lug the guts into the neighbour room. 

Mother, good night. Indeed this counsellor 

Is now most still, most secret and most grave, 

Who was in life a fooHsh prating knave. 

Come, sir, to draw toward an end with you. 

Good night, mother. 

\_Exeunt severally ; Hamlet dragging in Polonius. 



94 HAMLET. ^ [ACT III. 

EXPLANATORY NOTES. 
Scene i. 

1. 29. "For we have closely sent for Hamlet hither," — secretly sent. 

1. 31. " Affront Ophelia," — meet, encounter. 

1. 76. ..." Who would fardels bear," — burdens bear. 

Scene 2. 

1. 22. " His form and pressure," — character, impression. 

1. 79. " Vulcan's stithy," — smithy. 

1. 141. " This is a miching mallecho," — secret mischief. 

1. 156. ..." The posy of a ring," — motto, inscription. 

1. 169. " That I distrust you," — am anxious about you. 

1. 1 78. " My operant powers," — my active powers. 

1. 187. "The instances that second marriage move," — inducements^ 

motives. 
1. 224. " An anchor's cheer," — an anchorite's, hermifs cheer. 
1. 225. " That blanks the face of joy," — that blanches, pales the face 

of joy. 
1. 242. " Tropically," — by a trope, metaphorically, figuratively. 
1. 280. " With two Provincial roses on my razed shoes," — with two 

roses of Provins, or Provence, on my slashed, embroidered 

shoes. 
1. 287. " A very, very, — pajock," — peacock. 
\. 294. " Come the recorders," — fiutes. 
1. 327. " Amazement and admiration," — I. 2, 1. 192. 
1. 336. " By these pickers and stealers," — these hands. 
1. 357. " Govern these ventages," — vents, holes. 
1- 397' • • • " She be shent," — blamed, reproved. 

Scene 3. 

1. 32 " Should o'erhear 

The speech, of vantage," — from some secret point of observa- 
tion. 
1. 68. " O limed soul," — ensnared, caught as in bird-lime. 
1. 88. . . . " And know thou a more horrid hent," — purpose. 



\ 



ACT III.] EXPLANATORY NOTES. 95 

SCENK 4. 

1. 46, *' As from the body of contraction," — from the marriage- 
contract. 

. 52. ... " Thunders in the index," — at the outset, 

. 67. " And batten on this moor," — grow fat. 

. 98. ... "A vice of kings," — a clown or buffoon of a king. 

. 114. ** Conceit in weakest bodies," — imagination. 

. 121. . . . "Like life in excrements," — in excrescences, lifeless 
growths. 

. 127. " Would make them capable," — susceptible^ intelligent. 

. 129. "My stern effects," — actions, purposes. 

. 139. "Ecstasy," — madness.. 

. 185. . . . " A pair of reechy kisses," — reeking, filthy kisses. 

.191. " Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib," would hide from 
a toad, a bat, or a cat. 



g6 HAMLET, [ACT iv. 



ACT IV. 

Scene I. A room in the castle. 
Enter King, Queen, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern. 

King. There's matter in these sighs, these profound 
heaves : 
You must translate : 'tis fit we understand them. 
Where is your son? 

Queen. Bestow this place on us a little while. 

\_Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. 
Ah, mine own lord, what have I seen to-night ! 

Xing. What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet? 

Queen. Mad as the sea and wind, when both contend 
Which is the mightier : in his lawless fit, 
Behind the arras hearing something stir. 
Whips out his rapier, cries, ' A rat, a rat ! ' lo 

And, in this brainish apprehension, kills 
The unseen good old man. 

King. O heavy deed ! 

It had been so with us, had we been there : 
His liberty is full of threats to all ; 
To you yourself, to us, to every one. 
Alas, how shall this bloody deed be answer'd? 
It will be laid to us, whose providence 
Should have kept short, restrain'd, and out of haunt, 
This mad young man : but so much was our love. 
We would not understand what was most fit ; 20 

But, like the owner of a foul disease. 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 97 

To keep it from divulging, let it feed 

Even on the pith of life. Where is he gone ? 

Queen. To draw apart the body he hath kill'd ; 
O'er whom his very madness, like some ore 
Among a mineral of metals base, 
Shows itself pure ; he weeps for what is done. 

King. O Gertrude, come away ! 
The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch, 
But we will ship him hence : and this vile deed 30 

We must, with all our majesty and skill, 
Both countenance and excuse. Ho, Guildenstern ! 
Re-enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. 
Friends both, go join you with some further aid : 
Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain. 
And from his mother's closet hath he dragg'd him : 
Go seek him out ; speak fair, and bring the body 
Into the chapel. I pray you, haste in this. 

\_Exetnit Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. 
Come, Gertrude, we'll call up our wisest friends ; 
And let them know, both what we mean to do. 
And what's untimely done ; so, haply, slander 40 

Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter. 
As level as the cannon to his blank. 
Transports his poison'd shot, may miss our name, 
And hit the woundless air. O, come away ! 
My soul is full of discord and dismay. \^Exeunt. 

Scene H. Another I'oom in the castle. 
Enter Hamlet. 
Hamlet. Safely stowed. 

Rosencra7itz. | r ^y^^/^^n Hamlet ! Lord Hamlet ! 
Guildenstern. ) 



98 HAMLET, [ACT IV. 

Hamlet. But soft, what noise? who calls on Hamlet? O, 
here they come. 

Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. 

Rosencrantz. What have you done, my lord, with the 
dead body? 

Hamlet. Compounded it with dust, whereto 'tis kin. 

Rosencrantz. Tell us where 'tis, that we may take it 
thence 
And bear it to the chapel. 

Haifilet. Do not believe it. 

Rosencrantz. Believe what? 10 

Hamlet. That I can keep your counsel and not mine 
own. Besides, to be demanded of a sponge ! what replica- 
tion should be made by the son of a king ? 

Rosencrantz. Take you me for a sponge, my lord ? 

Hamlet. Ay, sir, that soaks up the king's countenance, his 
rewards, his authorities. But such officers do the king best 
service in the end : he keeps them, like an ape, in the cor- 
ner of his jaw ; first mouthed, to be last swallowed : when 
he needs what you have gleaned, it is but squeezing you, 
and, sponge, you shall be dry again. 20 

Rosencrantz. I understand you not, my lord. 

Hamlet. I am glad of it : a knavish speech sleeps in a 
foolish ear. 

Rosencrantz. My lord, you must tell us where the body 
is, and go with us to the king. 

Hamlet. The body is with the king, but the king is not 
with the body. The king is a thing — 

Guildenstern. A thing, my lord ! 

Hamlet. Of nothing : bring me to him. Hide fox, and 
all after. \_Exeunt. 



SCENE III.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 99 

Scene III. Another room in the castle. 

Enter King, attended. 

King. I have sent to seek him, and to find the body. 
How dangerous is it that this man goes loose ! 
Yet must not we put the strong law on him : 
He's loved of the distracted multitude, 
Who like not in their judgement, but their eyes : 
And where 'tis so, the offender's scourge is weigh'd, 
But never the offence. To bear all smooth and even, 
This sudden sending him away must seem 
Deliberate pause : diseases desperate grown 
By desperate appliance are relieved, 10 

Or not at all. 

Enter Rosencrantz. 

How now ! what hath befall'n ? 
Rosencrantz. Where the dead body is bestow'd, my lord, 
We cannot get from him. 
King. But where is he? 
Rosencrantz. Without, my lord j guarded, to know your 

pleasure. 
King. Bring him before us. 
Rosencrantz. Ho, Guildenstem ! bring in my lord. 

Enter Hamlet and Guildenstern. 

King. Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius? 
Hamlet. At supper. 

King. At supper ! where ? 20 

Hamlet. Not where he eats, but where he is eaten : a 

certain convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your 



lOO HAMLET, [act IV. 

worm is your only emperor for diet : we fat all creatures 
else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots : your fat 
king and your lean beggar is but variable service, two dishes, 
but to one table : that's the end. 

King. Alas, alas ! 

Hamlet. A man may fish^-wkfi^the worm that hath eat of 
a king, and -eat xif^fhe fish that hath fed of that worm. 

King. What dost thou mean by this ? 30 

Hamlet. Nothing but to show you how a king may go a 
progress through the guts of a beggar. 

King. Where is Polonius? 

Ha?nlet. In heaven ; send thither to see : if your messen- 
ger find him not there, seek him i' the other place yourself. 
But indeed, if you find him not within this month, you shall 
nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby. 

King. Go seek him there. \_To some Attendants. 

Hajulet. He will stay till you come. \_Exeunt Attendants. 

King. Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety, — 40 
Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve 
For that which thou hast done, — must send thee hence 
With fiery quickness : therefore prepare thyself; 
The bark is ready, and the wind at help 
The associates tend, and every thing is bent 
For England. 

Hamlet. For England ! 

King. Ay, Hamlet. 

Hamlet. Good. 

King. So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes. 

Hamlet. I see a cherub that sees them. But, come ; for 
England ! Farewell, dear mother. 

King. Thy loving father, Hamlet. 50 

Hamlet. My mother : father and mother is man and wife : 



SCENE IV.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. lOI 

man and wife is one flesh ; and so, my mother. Come, for 
England ! \_Exit. 

King. Follow him at foot ; tempt him with speed abroad ; 
Delay it not ; I'll have him hence to-night : 
Away ! for every thing is seal'd and done 
That else leans on the affair : pray you, make haste. 

\_Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. 
And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught — 
As my great power thereof may give thee sense, 
Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red 60 

After the Danish sword, and thy free awe 
Pays homage to us — thou may'st not coldly set 
Our sovereign process ; which imports at full. 
By letters congruing to that effect, 
The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England ; 
For like the hectic in my blood he rages, 
And thou must cure me : till I know 'tis done, 
Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun. \Exit. 

Scene IV. A plain in Denmark. 
Enter Fortinbras, a Captain, and Soldiers, marching. 

Eortinbra}. Go, captain, from me greet the Danish king ; 
Tell him that, by his license, Fortinbras 
Claims the conveyance of a promised march 
Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous. 
If that his majesty would aught with us, 
We shall express our duty in his eye ; 
And let him know so. 

Captain. I will do't, my lord. 

Fortinbras . Go softly on. 

\Exeunt Fortinbras and Soldiers. 



102 HAMLET, [ACT IV. 

Enter Hamlet, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and others. 

Hamlet. Good sir, whose powers are these? 

Captai?t. They are of Norway, sir. lo 

Hamlet. How purposed, sir, I pray you? 

Captain. Against some part of Poland. 

Hamlet. Who commands them, sir? 

Captain. The nephew to old Norway, Fortinbras. 

Hamlet. Goes it against the main of Poland, sir, 
Or for some frontier? 

Captain. Truly to speak, and with no addition, 
We go to gain a little patch of ground 
That hath in it no profit but the name. 
To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it ; 20 

Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole 
A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee. 

Hamlet Why, then the Polack never will defend it. • 

Captain. Yes, 'tis already garrison'd. 

Hamlet. Two thousand souls and twenty thousand ducats 
Will not debate the question of this straw : 
This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace. 
That inward breaks, and shows no cause without 
Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir. 

Captain. God be wi' you, sir. • \_Exit 

Rosencrantz. Will 't please you go, my lord ? 

Hamlet. I'll be with you straight. Go a Httle before. 31 

\_Exeunt all except Hamlet. 
How all occasions do inform against me, 
And spur my dull revenge ! What is a man, 
If his chief good and market of his time 
Be but to sleep and feed ? a beast, no more. 
Sure, He that made us with such large discourse, / 
Looking before and after, gave us not 



SCENE IV.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. IO3 

That capability and god-like reason 

To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be 

Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple 40 

Of thinking too precisely on the event, 

A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom 

And ever three parts coward, I do not know 

Why yet I live to say ' This thing's to do ; ' 

Sith I have cause and will and strength and means 

To do 't. Examples gross as earth exhort me : 

Witness this army of such mass and charge 

Led by a delicate and tender prince. 

Whose spirit with divine ambition puff'd 

Makes mouths at the invisible event, 50 

Exposing what is mortal and unsure 

To all that fortune, death and danger dare, 

Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great 

Is not to stir without great argument. 

But greatly to find quarrel in a straw 

When honour's at the stake. How stand I then. 

That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd. 

Excitements of my reason and my blood, 

And let all sleep? while, to my shame, I see 

The imminent death of twenty thousand men, 60 

That, for a fantasy and trick of fame, 

Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot 

Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause. 

Which is not tomb enough and continent 

To hide the slain? O, from this time forth, 

My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth ! \Exit. 



I ©4 HAMLET, [act IV. 

Scene V. Elsinore. A roojn in the castle. 
Enter Queen, Horatio, and a Gentleman. 

Quee7i. I will not speak with her. 

Gentleman. She is importunate, indeed distract : 
Her mood will needs be pitied. 

Queen. What would she have ? 

Gentlemaji. She speaks much of her father ; says she hears 
There's tricks i' the world ; and hems, and beats her heart ; 
Spurns enviously at straws ; speaks things in doubt, 
That carry but half sense : her speech is nothing. 
Yet the unshaped use of it doth move 
The hearers to collection ; they aim at it. 
And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts ; lo 

Which, as her winks, and nods, and gestures yield them, 
Indeed would make one think there might be thought. 
Though nothing sure, yet much, unhappily. 

Horatio. 'Twere good she were spoken with ; for she may 
strew 
•Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds. 

Queen. Let her come in. \_Exit Horatio. 

To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is. 
Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss : 
So full of artless jealousy is guilt. 
It spills itself in fearing to be spilt. 20 

Re-enter Horatio, with Ophelia. 

Ophelia. Where is the beauteous majesty of Denmark? 
Queen. How now, Ophelia ! 

Ophelia. [Sings] How should I your true love know 
From another one ? 



SCENE v.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 105 

By his cockle hat and staff, 
And his sandal shoon. 
Queen. Alas, sweet lady, what imports this song? 
Ophelia. Say you? nay, pray you, mark. 
[Sings] He is dead and gone, lady, 

He is dead and gone ; 30 

At his head a grass-green turf, 
At Ms heels a stone. 
Queen. Nay, but, Ophelia, — 
Ophelia. Pray you, mark. 
[Sings] White his shroud as the mpuntain snow, — 

Enter King. 

Queen. Alas, look here, my lord. 
Ophelia. [Sings] Larded with sweet flowers ; 
Which bewept to the grave did go 
With true-love showers. 
King. How do you, pretty lady? 40 

Ophelia. Well, God 'ild you ! They say the owl was a 
baker's daughter. Lord, we know what we are, but know 
not what we may be. God be at your table ! 
King. Conceit upon her father. 

Ophelia. Pray you, let's have no words of this ; but when 
they ask you what it means, say you this : 

[Sings] To-morrow is Saint Valentine' s day, 
All in the morning betime. 
And I a maid at your window^ 

To be your Valentine. 50 

Then up he rose, and donned his clothes. 

And diLpp'd his chamber-door ; 
Let in the maid, that out a maid 
Never departed more. 



I06 HAMLET, [ACT IV. 

King. Pretty Ophelia ! 

Ophelia. Indeed, la, without an oath, I'll make an end 
on't: 

[Sings] By Gis and by Saint Charity, 
Alack, and fie for shame! 
Young men will do^t, if they co7ne td't; 60 

By cock, they are to blame. 
Quoth she, before you tumbled me. 

You promised me to wed. 
So would I ha^ done, by yonder sun. 
An thou hadst not co7ne to my bed. 
King. How long hath she been thus? 
Ophelia. I hope all will be well. We must be patient : 
but I cannot choose but weep, to think they should lay him 
i' the cold ground. My brother shall know of it : and so I 
thank you for your good counsel. Come, my coach ! Good 
night, ladies ; good night, sweet ladies ; good night, good 
night. \Exit. 

King. Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray 
you. \Exit Horatio. 

O, this is the poison of deep grief j it springs 
All from her father's death. O Gertrude, Gertrude, 
When sorrows come, they come not single spies. 
But in battalions. First, her father slain : 
Next, your son gone ; and he most violent author 
Of his own just remove : the people muddied, 80 

Thick and unwholesome in their thoughts and whispers. 
For good Polonius' death ; and we have done but greenly. 
In hugger-mugger to inter him : poor Opheha 
Divided from herself and her fair judgement, 
Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts : 
Last, and as much containing as all these. 



SCENE v.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 107 

Her brother is in secret come from France ; 

Feeds on his wonder, keeps himself in clouds, 

And wants not buzzers to infect his ear 

With pestilent speeches of his father's death ; 90 

Wherein necessity, of matter beggar'd, 

Will nothing stick our person to arraign 

In ear and ear. O my dear Gertrude, this, 

Like to a murdering-piece, in many places 

Gives me superfluous death. [^A noise within. 

Queen. Alack, what noise is this ? 

King. Where are my Switzers ? Let them guard the door. 

Enter another Gentleman. 

What is the matter? 

Gentleman. Save yourself, my lord. 

The ocean, overpeering of his list, 
Eats not the flats with more impetuous haste 
Than young Laertes, in a riotous head, 100 

O'erbears your officers. The rabble call him lord ; 
And, as the world were now but to begin, 
Antiquity forgot, custom not known, 
The ratifiers and props of every word. 
They cry ' Choose we : Laertes shall be king : ' 
Caps, hands, and tongues, applaud it to the clouds : 
' Laertes shall be king, Laertes king ! ' 

Queen. How cheerfully on the false trail they cry ! 
O, this is counter, you false Danish dogs ! 109 

King. The doors are broke. \_Noise within. 

Enter Laertes, armed ; D^nts following. 
Laertes. Where is this king ? Sirs, stand you all without. 
Danes. No, let's come in. 
Laertes. I pray you, give me leave. 



I08 HAMLET, [ACT IV. M 

Danes. We will, we will. \They i^etlre without the door. 

Laertes. I thank you : keep the door. O thou vile king, I 
Give me my father ! 

Queen. Calmly, good Laertes. 

Laertes. That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me 

bastard, \ 

Cries cuckold to my father, brands the harlot 
Even here, between the chaste unsmirched brow 
Of my true mother. 

King. What is the cause, Laertes, 

That thy rebellion looks so giant-like? 120 

Let him go, Gertrude ; do not fear our person : 
There's such divinity doth hedge a king. 
That treason can but peep to what it would. 
Acts little of his will. Tell me, Laertes, 
Why thou art thus incensed. Let him go, Gertrude. 
Speak, man. 

Laertes. Where is my father? 

Kifig. Dead. 

Queen. But not by him. 

King. Let him demand his fill. 

Laertes. How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with : 
To hell, allegiance ! vows, to the blackest devil ! 130 

Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit ! 
I dare damnation. To this point I stand. 
That both the worlds I give to negligence, 
Let come what comes ; only I'll be revenged 
Most throughly for my father. 

King. Who shall stay you ? 

Laertes. My will, not all the world : 
And for my means, I'll husband them so well, 
They shall go far but little. 

King. Good Laertes, 



SCENE v.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 109 

If you desire to know the certainty 

Of your dear father's death, is't writ in your revenge, 140 

That, swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe, 
Winner and loser? 

Laertes. None but his enemies. 

King. Will you know them then? 

Laertes. To his good friends thus wide I'll ope my arms \ 
And like the kind life -rendering pelican, 
Repast them with my blood. 

King. Why, now you speak 

Like a good child and a true gentleman. 
That I am guiltless of your father's death. 
And am most sensibly in grief for it. 

It shall as level to your judgement pierce 150 

As day does to your eye. 

Danes. [ Within'] Let her come in. 

Laertes. How now ! what noise is that? 

Re-ent£r Ophelia. 

O heat, dry up my brains ! tears seven times salt, 

Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye ! 

By heaven, thy madness shall be paid with weight, 

Till our scale turn the beam. O rose of May ! 

Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia ! 

O heavens ! is't possible, a young maid's wits 

Should be as mortal as an old man's life ? 

Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine 160 

It sends some precious instance of itself 

After the thing it loves. 

Ophelia [Sings] They bore him barefaced on the bier ; 
Hey non nanny, nonny, hey nanny ; 
And in his grave 7'ain'd many a tear : — 
Fare you well, my dove ! 



no HAMLET, [ACT IV. 

Laertes. Hadst thou thy wits, and didst persuade revenge, 
It could not move thus. 

Ophelia. [Sings] You must sing a-down a-down, 

As you call him a-down-a. 170 

O, how the wheel becomes it ! It is the false steward, that 
stole his master's daughter. 

Laertes. This nothing's more than matter. 
Ophelia. There's rosemary, that's for remembrance ; pray, 
love, remember : and there is pansies, that's for thoughts. 
Laertes. A document in madness, thoughts and remem- 
brance fitted. 

Ophelia. There's fennel for you, and columbines : there's 
rue for you ; and here's some for me : we may call it herb- 
grace o' Sundays : O, you must wear your rue with a differ- 
ence. There's a daisy : I would give you some violets, but 
they withered all when my father died : they say he made a 
good end, — 

[Sings] For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy. 
Laertes. Thought and afflictioh, passion, hell itself, 
She turns to favour and to prettiness. 

Ophelia [Sings] And will he not come again? 
And will he not come again? 
No, no, he is dead: 
Go to thy death-bed : 190 

He never will come again. 

His beard was white as snow, 
All flaxen was his poll : 
He is gone, he is gone. 
And we cast away moan : 
God ha' mercy on his soul! 
And of all Christian souls, I pray God. God be wi' ye. 

\_Exit. 



SCENE VI.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. Ill 

Laertes. Do you see this, O God ? 

King. Laertes, I must commune with your grief. 
Or you deny me right. Go but apart, 200 

Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will. 
And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me : 
If by direct or by collateral hand 
They find us touch 'd, we will our kingdom give. 
Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours, 
To you in satisfaction ; but if not. 
Be you content to lend your patience to us, 
And we shall jointly labour with your soul 
To give it due content. 

Laertes. Let this be so j 

His means of death, his obscure funeral — 210 

No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones, 
No noble rite nor formal ostentation — 
Cry to be heard, as 'twere from heaven to earth. 
That I must call 't in question. 

King. So you shall ; 

And where the offence is let the great axe fall. 
I pray you, go with me. [Exeunt. 



Scene VI. Another room in the castle. 
Enter Horatio and a Servant. 

Horatio. What are they that they would speak with me ? 

Servant. Sailors, sir : they say they have letters for you. 

Horatio. Let them come in. \^Exit Servant. 

I do not know from what part of the world 
I should be greeted, if not from lord Hamlet. 



112 HAMLET, [ACT IV. 

Enter Sailors. 

First Sailor. God bless you, sir. 

Hoi^atio. Let him bless thee too. 

First Sailor. He shall, sir, an't please him. There's a 
letter for you, sir ; it comes from the ambassador that was 
bound for England ; if your name be Horatio, as I am let to 
know it is. n 

Horatio [Reads] ^Horatio, when thou shall have over- 
looked this, give these fellows some means to the king : they 
have letters for him. Ere tue were two days old at sea, a 
pirate of very warlike appointment gave us chase. Finding 
ourselves too slow of sail, we put on a compelled valour, and 
in the grapple I boarded thejn : on the instant they got clear 
of our ship ; so I alone became their prisoner. They have 
dealt with me like thieves of mercy : but they knew what they 
did ; I am to do a good turn for them. Let the king have 
the letter's I have sent; and repair thou to vie luith as jftuch 
speed as thou wouldstfly death. I have words to speak in 
thine ear will 7nake thee dumb ; yet are they i7iuch too light 
for the bore of the niatter. These good fellows will bring thee 
where I am. Rosencrajitz and Guildensterii hold their course 
for England : of them I have much to tell thee. Farewell. 

He that thou knowest thine, Hamlet.' 
Come, I will make you way for these your letters ; 28 

And do 't the speedier, that you may direct me 
To him from whom you brought them. \Exeunt. 

Scene VII. Another room in the castle. 
Enter King and Laertes. 
King. Now must your conscience my acquittance seal, 
And you must put me in your heart for friend, 



1 



SCENE vn.] PRIxNCE OF DENMARK. II3 

Sith you have heard, and with a knowing ear, 
That he which hath your noble father slain 
Pursued my life. 

Laej'tes. It well appears : but tell me 

Why you proceeded not against these feats, 
So crimeful and so capital in nature, 
As by your safety, wisdom, all things else. 
You mainly were stirr'd up. 

King. O, for two special reasons ; 

Which may to you, perhaps, seem much unsinew'd, 10 

But yet to me they are strong. The queen his mother 
Lives almost by his looks ; and for myself — 
My virtue or my plague, be it either which — 
She's so conjunctive to my hfe and soul. 
That, as the star moves not but in his sphere, 
I could not but by her. The other motive, 
Why to a public count I might not go, 
Is the great love the general gender bear him ; 
Who, dipping all his faults in their affection. 
Would, like the spring that turneth wood to stone, 20 

Convert his gyves to graces ; so that my arrows. 
Too slightly timber'd for so loud a wind. 
Would have reverted to ray bow again, 
And not where I had aim'd them. 

Laertes. And so have I a noble father lost ; 
A sister driven into desperate terms, 
Whose worth, if praises may go back again, 
Stood challenger on mount of all the age 
For her perfections : but my revenge will come. 

King. Break not your sleeps for that : you must not think 
That we are made of stuff so flat and dull 31 

That we can let our beard be shook with danger 



114 HAMLET, [ACT IV. 

And think it pastime. You shortly shall hear more : 
I loved your father, and we love ourself ; 
And that, I hope, will teach you to imagine — 

Enter a Messenger. 

How now ! what news ? 

Messenger. Letters, my lord, from Hamlet : 

This to your majesty; this to the queen. 

Kiitg. From Hamlet ! who brought them? 

Messenger. Sailors, my lord, they say ; I saw them not : 
They were given to me by Claudio ; he received them 40 
Of him that brought them. 

King. Laertes, you shall hear them. 

Leave us. \_Exit Messenger. 

[Reads] ^ High and mighty, You shall know I am set 
naked on your kingdom. To-morrow shall I beg leave to see 
your kingly eyes : when I shall, first asking you pardon there- 
unto, recount the occasion of my sudden and more strange 
return. Hamlet.' 

What should this mean? Are all the rest come back? 
Or is it some abuse, and no such thing ? 

Laertes. Know you the hand ? 

King. 'Tis Hamlet's character. * Naked ! ' 

And in a postscript here, he says * alone.' 51 

Can you advise me ? 

Laertes. I'm lost in it,, my lord. But let him come j 
It warms the very sickness in my heart, 
That I shall live and tell him to his teeth, 
* Thus didest thou.' 

King. If it be so, Laertes — 

As how should it be so ? how otherwise ? — 
Will you be ruled by me ? 



SCENE VII.] PRINCE OB' DENMARK. II5 

Laertes. Ay, my lord ; 

So you will not o'errule me to a peace. 

King. To thine own peace. If he be now return'd, 60 
As checking at his voyage, and that he means 
No more to undertake it, I will work him 
To an exploit, now ripe in my device, 
Under the which he shall not choose but fall : 
And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe, 
But even his mother shall uncharge the practice 
And call it accident. 

Laertes. My lord, I will be ruled ; 

The rather, if you could devise it so 
That I might be the organ. 

King. It falls right. 

You have been talk'd of since your travel much, 70 

And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality 
Wherein, they say, you shine : your sum of parts 
Did not together pluck such envy from him 
As did that one, and that, in my regard, 
Of the unworthiest siege. 

Laertes. What part is that, my lord ? 

King. A very riband in the cap of youth, 
Yet needful too ; for youth no less becomes 
The light and careless livery that it wears 
Than settled age his sables and his weeds, 
Importing health and graveness. Two months since, 80 

Here was a gentleman of Normandy : — 
I've seen myself, and served against, the French, 
And they can well on horseback : but this gallant 
Had witchcraft in't ; he grew into his seat ; 
And to such wondrous doing brought his horse. 
As he had been incorpsed and demi-natured 



1 1 6 HAMLET, [ACT IV. 

With the brave beast : so far he topp'd my thought, 
That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks, 
Come short of what he did. 

LaeTtes. A Norman was't? 

King. A Norman. 90 

Laertes. Upon my Hfe, Laraond. 

King. The very same. 

Laertes. I know him well : he is the brooch indeed 
And gem of all the nation. 

King. He made confession of you, 
And gave you such a masterly report 
For art and exercise in your defence 
And for your rapier most especial. 
That he cried out, 'twould be a sight indeed. 
If one could match you : the scrimers of their nation. 
He swore, had neither motion, guard, nor eye, 100 

If you opposed them. Sir, this report of his 
Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy 
That he could nothing do but wish and beg 
Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him. 
Now, out of this, — 

Laertes. What out of this, my lord ? 

King. Laertes, was your father dear to you ? 
Or are you like the painting of a sorrow, 
A face without a heart ? 

Laertes. Why ask you this ? 

King. Not that I think you did not love your father ; 
But that I know love is begun by time ; no 

And that I see, in passages of proof. 
Time qualifies the spark and fire of it. 
There lives within the very flame of love 
A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it : 

J 



I 



SCENE vii.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. II7 

And nothing is at a like goodness still, 

For goodness, growing to a plurisy, 

Dies in his own too much : that we would do. 

We should do when we would ; for this ' would ' changes 

And hath abatements and delays as many 

As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents ; 120 

And then this ' should ' is like a spendthrift sigh. 

That hurts by easing. But, to the quick o' the ulcer : — 

Hamlet comes back : what would you undertake, 

To show yourself your father's son in deed 

More than in words ? 

Laertes. To cut his throat i' the church. 

King. No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize ; 
Revenge should have no bounds. But, good Laertes, 
Will you do this, keep close within your chamber. 
Hamlet return'd shall know you are come home : 
We'll put on those shall praise your excellence 130 

And set a double varnish on the fame 
The Frenchman gave you, bring you, in fine, together 
And wager on your heads : he, being remiss. 
Most generous and free from all contriving. 
Will not peruse the foils ; so that, with ease, 
Or with a little shuffling, you may choose 
A sword unbated and in a pass of practice 
Requite him for your father. 

Laertes. I will 'do't : 

And, for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword. 
I bought an unction of a mountebank, 140 

So mortal that, but dip a knife in it. 
Where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare. 
Collected from all simples that have virtue 
Under the moon, can save the thing from death 



Il8 HAMLET, [ACT IV. 

That is but scratched withal : I'll touch my point 
With this contagion, that, if I gall him slightly. 
It may be death. 

King. Let's further think of this ; 

Weigh what convenience both of time and means 
May fit us to our shape : if this should fail, 
And that our drift look through our bad performance, 150 
'Twere better not assay 'd : therefore this project 
Should have a back or second, that might hold, 
If this should blast in proof. Soft ! let me see ; 
We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings : 
I ha't : 

When in your motion you are hot and dry — 
As make your bouts more violent to that end — 
And that he calls for drink, I'll have prepared him 
A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping. 
If he by chance escape your venom'd stuck, 160 

Our purpose may hold there. 

Enter Queen. 

How now, sweet queen ! 

Queen. One woe doth tread upon another's heel, 
So fast they follow : your sister's drown'd, Laertes. 

Laertes. Drown'd ! O, where ? 

Queen. There is a willow grows aslant a brook, 
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream ; 
There with fantastic garlands did she come 
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples 
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name, 
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them : 170 
There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds 
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke ; 



SCENE VII.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. II9 

When down her weedy trophies and herself 

Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide ; 

And, mermaid-like, a while they bore her up : 

Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes ; 

As one incapable of her own distress, 

Or like a creature native and indued 

Unto that element : but long it could not be 

Till that her garments, heavy with their drink, 180 

Puird the poor wretch from her melodious lay 

To muddy death. 

Laertes. Alas, then, is she drown'd? 

Queen. Drown'd, drown'd. 

Laertes. Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia, 
And therefore I forbid my tears : but yet 
It is our trick ; nature her custom holds, 
Let shame say what it will : when these are gone, 
The woman will be out. Adieu, my lord : 
I have a speech of fire, that fain would blaze, 
But that this folly douts it. \_Exit. 

King. Let's follow, Gertrude : 190 

How much I had to do to calm his rage ! 
Now fear I this will give it start again ; 
Therefore let's follow. [Exeunt. 



I20 HAMLEr. [ACT iv. 

EXPLANATORY NOTES. 

Scene i. 

1. 1 8 " Out of haunt," — OMVoi company. 

1. 42, " As level as the cannon to his blank," — to its mark. 

Scene 2. 
1. 12. " What replication should be made," — what reply. 

Scene 3. 

1. 31. "How a king may go a progress," — may make a ceremonial 

journey, in royal state. 
1. 41. "Which we do tender," — cherish, regard. 
1. 45. " The associates tend," — azvait, attend. 
\. 62 " Thou may'st not coldly set," — estimate. 

Scene 4. 

1, 27. "This is the imposthume of much wealth," — sore, abscess. 

1. 36 " With such large discourse," — power oi reasoning. 

1. 39. "To fust in us unused," — to grow mouldy. 

Scene 5. 

1. 9. " The hearers to collection," — to inference, conclusion. 
1. 37. " Larded with sweet flowers," — garnished, bedecked. 
1. 41. "Well, God 'ild you," — God rezvard yoM. 

1. 82 " We have done but greenly. 

In hugger-mugger to inter him " — we have acted foolishly in 

secretly burying him. 
1. 94. " Like to a murdering-piece," — a cannon loaded with small 

bullets and scraps of iron. 
1. 98. " The ocean, overpeering of his list," — rising above its bounds. 
1. 109. "O, this is counter," — running on q. false scent. 
1. 185. "Thought and afQiction," — ^'thought" here in sense of 

melancholy. 



ACT IV.] EXPLANATORY NOTES. 121 

Scene 6. 

1. 23. " Yet they are too light for the bore of the matter," — for the 
itnportance of the matter. 

Scene 7. 

1. 18. . . . "The great love the general gender bear him," — the 
masses of the common people, 
21. " Convert his g3rves to graces," — \\\% fetters. 
42. *' I am set naked on your kingdom," — unattended. 
61. " As checking at his voyage," — objecting to his voyage. 

66 " Shall uncharge the practice," — shall acquit the 

plot of blame. 
75. " Of the unworthiest siege," — rank. 

99 " The scrimers of their nation," — ^h^ fencers. 

116. .. . " Growing to a plurisy," — \.q excess. 

137. *' A sword unbated," — unblunted, without a button. 

142 "No cataplasm so rare, 

Collected from all simples," — no poultice made from all herbs. 
169. "That liberal shepherds " — licentious, free-spoken shepherds. 
177. "Incapable of her own distress," — unknowing, unconscious. 



122 HAMLET, [ACT V. 



ACT V. 

Scene I. A churchyard. 
Enter two Clowns, with spades, etc. 

First Clown. Is she to be buried in Christian burial that 
wilfully seeks her own salvation? 

Second Clown. I tell thee she is : and therefore make 
her grave straight : the crowner hath sat on her, and finds 
it Christian burial. 

First Clown. How can that be, unless she drowned her- 
self in her own defence ? 

Second Clown. Why, 'tis found so. 

First Clown. It must be '■ se offendendo '/ it cannot be else. 
For here lies the point : if I drown myself wittingly, it argues 
an act : and an act hath three branches ; it is, to act, to do, 
and to perform : argal, she drowned herself wittingly. 

Second Clown. Nay, but hear you, goodman delver, — 

First Clown. Give me leave. Here lies the water ; good : 
here stands the man ; good : if the man go to this water, 
and drown himself, it is, will he, nill he, he goes, — mark 
you that ; but if the water come to him and drown him, he 
drowns not himself : argal, he that is not guilty of his own 
death shortens not his own Hfe. 

Second Clown. But is this law? 20 

First Clown. Ay, marry, is 't ; crowner's quest law. 

Second Clown. Will you ha' the truth on 't ? If this had 
not been a gentlewoman, she should have been buried out 
o' Christian burial. 



SCENE I.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 1 23 

First Clown. Why, there thou say'st : and the more pity 
that great folk should have countenance in this world to drown 
or hang themselves, more than their even Christian. Come, 
my spade. There is no ancient gentlemen but gardeners, 
ditchers, and grave-makers : they hold up Adam's profession. 

Second Clown. Was he a gentleman ? 

First Clown. A' was the first that ever bore arms. 

Second Clown. Why, he had none. 

Fi7'st Clown. What, art a heathen ? How dost thou under- 
stand the Scripture ? The Scripture says * Adam digged : ' 
could he dig without arms ? I'll put another question to thee : 
if thou answerest me not to the purpose, confess thyself — 

Second Clown. Go to. 

First Cloivn. What is he that builds stronger than either 
the mason, the shipwright, or the carpenter? 

Second Clown. The gallows-maker; for that frame out- 
lives a thousand tenants. 41 

Fi7'st Clown. I like thy wit well, in good faith : the gal- 
lows does well ; but how does it well ? it does well to those 
that do ill : now thou dost ill to say the gallows is built 
stronger than the church : argal, the gallows may do well to 
thee. To 't again, come. "^ 

Second Clown. ' Who builds stronger than a mason, a 
shipwright, or a carpenter?' 

First Clown. Ay, tell me that, and unyoke. 

Second Clown. Marry, now I can tell. 

First Clown. To 't. 

Second Clown. Mass, I cannot tell. 

Enter Hamlet and Horatio, at a distance. 

First Clown. Cudgel thy brains no more about it ; for your 
dull ass will not mend his pace with beating ; and, when you 



1 24 HAMLET, [ACT V. 

are asked this question next, say ' a grave-maker : ' the houses 
that he makes last till doomsday. Go, get thee to Yaughan : 
fetch me a stoup of liquor. \^Exit Second Clown. 

\_He digs, and sings. 
In youth, when I did love, did love. 

Me thought it was very sweet, 
To contract O, the time, for, ah, my behove, 60 

O, methought, there was nothing meet. 
Ha7nlet. Has this fellow no feeling of his business, that 
he sings at grave-making? 

Horatio. Custom hath made it in him a property of 
easiness. 

Hamlet. 'Tis e'en so : the hand of little employment hath 
the daintier sense. 
First Clown. [Sings] 

But age, with his stealing steps. 
Hath claw''d me in his clutch, 
And hath shipped me intil the land. 
As if 1 had never been such. 

\_Throws up a skull. 
Hamlet. That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing 
once : how the knave jowls it to the ground, as if it were 
Cain's jaw-bone, that did the first murder ! It might be 
the pate of a politician, which this ass now o'er-reaches ; 
one that would circumvent God, might it not? 
Horatio. It might, my lord. 

Hamlet. Or of a courtier ; which could say ' Good mor- 
row, sweet lord ! How dost thou, good lord ? ' This might 
be my lord such-a-one, that praised my lord such-a-one*s 
horse, when he meant to beg it ; might it not ? 81 

Horatio. Ay, my lord. 
Hamlet. Why, e'en so : and now my Lady Worm's ; 



SCENE I.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 1 25 

chapless, and knocked about the mazzard with a sexton's 
spade : here's fine revolution, an we had the trick to see't. 
Did these bones cost no more the breeding, but to play at 
loggats with 'em ? mine ache to think on 't. 
First Clown. [Sings] 

A pick-axe, and a spade, a spade, 

For and a shrouding sheet : 
O, a pit of clay for to be made 90 

For szich a guest is meet. 

\Throws up another skull. 
Hamlet. There's another : why may not that be the skull 
of a lawyer? Where be his quiddities now, his quillets, his 
cases, his tenures, and his tricks? why does he suffer this 
rude knave now to knock him about the sconce with a dirty 
shovel, and will not tell him of his action of battery ? Hum 1 
This fellow might be in 's time a great buyer of land, with 
his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, 
his recoveries : is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery 
of his recoveries, to have his fine pate full of fine dirt ? will 
his vouchers vouch him no more of his purchases, and 
double ones too, than the length and breadth of a pair of 
indentures ? The very conveyances of his lands will hardly 
lie in this box ; and must the inheritor himself have no 
more, ha? 

Horatio. Not a jot more, my lord. 
Hamlet. Is not parchment made of sheep-skins ? 
Horatio. Ay, my lord, and of calf-skins too. 
Hamlet. They are sheep and calves which seek out as- 
surance in that. I will speak to this fellow. Whose grave's 
this, sirrah? m 

First Clown. Mine, sir. — 

[Sings] O, a pit of clay for to be made 
For such a guest is meet. 



126 HAMLET, [act v. 

Hamlet. I think it be thine, indeed ; for thou liest in 't. 

First Clown. You lie out on 't, sir, and therefore it is not 
yours : for my part, I do not lie in 't, and yet it is mine. 

Hafnlet. Thou dost lie in 't, to be in 't and say it is thine : 
'tis for the dead, not for the quick ; therefore thou liest. 

Fi7'st Clown. 'Tis a quick lie, sir ; 'twill away again, from 
me to you. 

Hamlet. What man dost thou dig it for? 

First Clown. For no man, sir. 

Hamlet. What woman, then ? 

First Clown. For none, neither. 

Ha7nlet. Who is to be buried in 't? 

First Clown. One that was a woman, sir ; but, rest her 
soul, she's dead. 128 

Hamlet. How absolute the knave is ! we must speak by 
the card, or equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Hora- 
tio, these three years I have taken note of it ; the age is 
grown so picked that the toe of the peasant comes so near 
the heel of the courtier, he galls his kibe. How long hast 
thou been a grave-maker? 

First Clown. Of all the days i' the year, I came to't 
that day that our last king Hamlet overcame Fortinbras. 

Hamlet. How long is that since ? 

First Clown. Cannot you tell that? every fool can tell 
that : it was the very day that young Hamlet was born ; he 
that is mad, and sent into England. 

Hamlet. Ay, marry, why was he sent into England ? 

First Clown. Why, because he was mad : he shall re- 
cover his wits there ; or, if he do not, it's no great matter there. 

Hamlet. Why ? 

First Clown. 'Twill not be seen in him there ; there the 
men are as mad as he. 



SCENE I.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 1 27 

Hamlet. How came he mad? 

First Clown. Very strangely, they say. 

Hamlet. How strangely? 

First Clown. Faith, e'en with losing his wits. 150 

Hamlet. Upon what ground? 

First Clown. Why, here in Denmark : I have been sexton 
here, man and boy, thirty years. 

Hamlet. How long will a man lie i' the earth ere he rot ? 

First Clown. V faith, if he be not rotten J)efore he die — 
as we have many pocky corses now-a-days, that will scarce 
hold the laying in — he will last you some eight year or 
nine year : a tanner will last you nine year. 

Hamlet. Why he more than another? 

First Clown. Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, 
that he will keep out water a great while ; and your water is 
a sore decayer of your whoreson dead body. Here's a skull 
now ; this skull has lain in the earth three and twenty years. 

Hamlet. Whose was it? 

First Clown. A whoreson mad fellow's it was : whose do 
you think it was ? 

Hamlet. Nay^ I know not. 

First Cloivn. A pestilence on him for a mad rogue ! a' 
poured a flagon of Rhenish on my head once. This same 
skull, sir, was Yorick's skull, the king's jester. 170 

Hamlet. This ? 

Fi7'st Clown. E'en that. 

Hamlet. Let me see. \^Takes the skull.~\ Alas, poor 
Yorick ! I knew him, Horatio : a fellow of infinite jest, of 
most excellent fancy : he hath borne me on his back a 
thousand times ; and now, how abhorred in my imagination 
it is ! my gorge rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have 
kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? 



128 HAMLET, [ACT V. 

your gambols ? your songs ? your flashes of merriment, that 
were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock 
your own grinning ? quite chap-fallen ? Now get you to my 
lady's chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to 
this favour she must come ; make her laugh at that. Prithee, 
Horatio, tell me one thing. 

Horatio. What's that, my lord ? 

Hamlet. Dost thou think Alexander looked o' this fashion 
i' the earth? , 

Horatio. E'en so. 

Hamlet. And smelt so ? pah ! \_Puts down the skull. 

Horatio. E'en so, my lord. 190 

Hamlet. To what base uses we may return, Horatio ! 
Why may not imagination trace the noble dust of Alex- 
ander, till he find it stopping a bung-hole ? 

Horatio. 'Twere to consider too curiously, to consider so. 

Hamlet. No, faith, not a jot ; but to follow him thither 
with modesty enough, and likelihood to lead it : as thus : 
Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth 
into dust ; the dust is earth ; of earth we make loam ; and 
why of that loam, whereto he was converted, might they not 
stop a beer-barrel ? 200 

Imperious Caesar, dead and turn'd to clay, 
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away : 
O, that that earth, which kept the world in awe, 
Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw ! 
But soft ! but soft ! aside : here comes the king, 

Enter Priests, etc., in procession ; the corpse of Ophelia, 
Laertes and Mourners following ; King, Queen, their 
trains, etc. 

The queen, the courtiers : who is that they follow ? 
And with such maimed rites ? This doth betoken 



SCENE I.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 1 29 

The corse they follow did with desperate hand 

Fordo its own life : 'twas of some estate. 209 

Couch we awhile, and mark. \Retiring with Horatio. 

Laertes. What ceremony else ? 

Hamlet. That is Laertes, a very noble youth : mark. 

Laertes. What ceremony else ? 

First Priest. Her obsequies have been as far enlarged 
As we have warranty : her death was doubtful ; 
And, but that great command o'ersways the order, 
She should in ground unsanctified have lodged 
Till the last trumpet ; for charitable prayers. 
Shards, flints and pebbles should be thrown on her : 
Yet here she is allow'd her virgin crants, 220 

Her maiden strewments and the bringing home 
Of bell and burial. 

Laertes. Must there no more be done ? 

First Priest. No more be done : 

We should profane the service of the dead 
To sing a requiem and such rest to her 
As to peace-parted souls. 

Laertes. Lay her i' the earth : 

And from her fair and unpolluted flesh 
May violets spring ! I tell thee, churlish priest, 
A ministering angel shall my sister be. 
When thou liest howling. 

Hamlet. What, the fair Opheha ! 230 

Queen. Sweets to the sweet : farewell ! \_ScatteiHng flowers . 
I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife ; 
I thought thy bride-bed to have deck'd, sweet maid. 
And not have strew'd thy grave. 

Laertes. O, treble woe 

Fall ten times treble on that cursed head. 



130 HAMLET, [act V, 

Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense 
Deprived thee of ! Hold off the earth awhile, 
Till I have caught her once more in mine arms : 

\Leaps into the grave. 
Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead, 
Till of this flat a mountain you have made 240 

To o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head 
Of blue Olympus. 

Hamlet. \Advaiicing\ What is he whose grief 
Bears such an emphasis ? whose phrase of sorrow 
Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand 
like wonder-wounded hearers ? This is I, 
Hamlet the Dane ! \Leaps into the g7'ave. 

Laertes. The devil take thy soul ! 

\_Grappling with him. 

Hamlet. Thou pray'st not well. 
I prithee, take thy fingers from my throat ; 
For, though I am not splenitive and rash. 
Yet have I something in me dangerous, 250 

Which let thy wiseness fear : hold off thy hand. 

King. Pluck them asunder. 

Queen. Hamlet, Hamlet ! 

All. Gentlemen, — 

Horatio. Good my lord, be quiet. 

\_The Attendants part them, and they come out of the 
grave. 

Hamlet. Why, I will fight with him upon this theme 
Until my eyelids will no longer wag. 

Queen. O my son, what theme? 

Hamlet. I loved Ophelia : forty thousand brothers 
Could not, with all their quantity of love. 
Make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her? 



SCENE I.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 131 

King. O, he is mad, Laertes. 260 

Queen. For love of God, forbear him. 

Hamlet. 'Svvounds, show me what thou'lt do : 
Woo't weep? woo't fight? woo't fast? woo't tear thyself? 
Woo't drink up eisel ? eat a crocodile ? 
I'll do't. Dost thou come here to whine? 
To outface me with leaping in her grave ? 
Be buried quick with her, and so will I : 
And, if thou prate of mountains, let them throw 
Millions of acres on us, till our ground, 
Singeing his pate against the burning zone, 270 

Make Ossa like a wart ! Nay, an thou'lt mouth, 
I'll rant as well as thou. 

Queen. This is mere madness : 

And thus awhile the fit will work on him ; 
Anon, as patient as the female dove, 
When that her golden couplets are disclosed, 
His silence will sit drooping. 

Hamlet. Hear you, sir ; 

What is the reason that you use me thus ? 
I loved you ever : but it is no matter ; 

Let Hercules himself do what he may, 279 

The cat will mew, and dog will have his day. \Exit. 

King. I pray you, good Horatio, wait upon him. 

\Exit Horatio. 
\_To Laertes^ Strengthen your patience in our last night's 

speech ; 
We'll put the matter to the present push. 
Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son. 
This grave shall have a living monument : 
An hour of quiet shortly shall we see ; 
Till then, in patience our proceeding be. \_Exeuni. 



132 HAMLET, [ACT V. 

Scene II. A hall in the castle. 
Enter Hamlet and Horatio. 

Hamlet. So much for this, sir : now shall you see the other ; 
,You do remember all the circumstance ? 

Horatio. Remember it, my lord ! 

Hamlet. Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting, 
That would not let me sleep : methought I lay 
Worse than the mutines in the bilboes. Rashly, 
And praised be rashness for it, let us know. 
Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well. 
When our deep plots do pall : and that should teach us 
There's a divinity that shapes. our ends, 10 

Rough-hew them how we will, — 

Hoi-atio. That is most certain. 

Hamlet. Up from ray cabin. 
My sea-gown scarf d about me, in the dark 
Groped I to find out them ; had my desire, 
Finger'd their packet, and in fine withdrew 
To mine own room again : making so bold. 
My fears forgetting manners, to unseal 
Their grand commission ; where I found, Horatio, — 
O royal knavery ! — an exact command, 
Larded with many several sorts of reasons 20 

Importing Denmark's heakh and England's too, 
With, ho ! such bugs and goblins in my life. 
That, on the supervise, no leisure bated. 
No, not to stay the grinding of the axe, 
My head should be struck off. 

Horatio. Is't possible ? 



SCENE ll.j PRIxXCE OF DENMARK. 1 33 

Hamlet. Here's the commission : read it at more leisure. 
But wilt thou hear me how I did proceed ? 

Horatio. I beseech you. 

Hamlet. Being thus be-netted round with villanies, — 
Ere I could make a prologue to my brains, 30 

They had begun the play — I sat me down, 
Devised a new commission, wrote it fair : 
I once did hold it, as our statists do, 
A baseness to write fair, and labour'd much 
How to forget that learning, but, sir, now 
It did me yeoman's service : wilt thou know 
The effect of what I wrote? 

Horatio. Ay, good my lord. 

Hamlet. An earnest conjuration from the king, 
As England was his faithful tributary. 

As love between them like the palm might flourish, 40 

As peace should still her wheaten garland wear 
And stand a comma 'tween their amities, 
And many such-like ' As'es ' of great charge. 
That, on the view and knowing of these contents, 
Without debatement further, more or less. 
He should the bearers put to sudden death, 
Not shriving-time allow'd. 

Horatio. How was this seal 'd ? 

Hamlet. Why, even in that was heaven ordinant. 
I had my father's signet in my purse, 

Which was the m_odel of that Danish seal ; 50 

Folded the writ up in form of the other. 
Subscribed it, gave't the impression, placed it safely, 
The changeling never known. Now, the next day 
Was our sea-fight ; and what to this was sequent 
Thou know'st already. 



134 HAMLET, [ACT V. 

Hoi'aiio. So Guildenstern and Rosencrantz go to't. 

Hamlet. Why, man, they did make love to this employment ; 
They are not near my conscience ; their defeat 
Does by their own insinuation grow : 

'Tis dangerous when the baser nature comes 60 

Between the pass and fell incensed points 
Of mighty opposites. 

Horatio. Why, what a king is this ! 

Hamlet. Does it not, thinks 't thee, stand me now upon — 
He that hath kill'd my king and whored my mother, 
Popp'd in between the election and my hopes, 
Thrown out his angle for my proper life, 
And with such cozenage — is't not perfect conscience, 
To quit him with this arm ? and is't not to be damn'd. 
To let this canker of our nature come 
In further evil? 70 

Horatio. It must be shortly known to him from England 
What is the issue of the business there. 

Hamlet. It will be short : the interim is mine ; 
And a man's life's no more than to say ' One.' 
But I am very sorry, good Horatio, 
That to Laertes I forgot myself; 
For, by the image of my cause, I see 
The portraiture of his : I'll court his favours : 
But, sure, the bravery of his grief did put me 
Into a towering passion. 

Horatio. Peace ! who comes here? 80 

Enter Osric. 

Osric. Your lordship is right welcome back to Denmark. 
Hamlet. I humbly thank you, sir. Dost know this water- 
fly? 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 1 35 

Horatio. No, my good lord. 

Hamlet. Thy state is the more gracious ; for 'tis a vice to 
know him. He hath much land, and fertile : let a beast be 
lord of beasts, and his crib shall stand at the king's mess : 
'tis a chough ; but, as I say, spacious in the possession of 
dirt. 

Osric. Sweet lord, if your lordship were at leisure, I 
should impart a thing to you from his majesty. 91 

Hamlet. I will receive it, sir, with all diligence of spirit. 
Put your bonnet to his right use ; 'tis for the head. 

Osric. I thank your lordship, it is very hot. 

Ha7nlet. No, believe me, 'tis very cold ; the wind is 
northerly. 

Osric. It is indifferent cold, my lord, indeed. 

Hamlet. But yet methinks it is very sultry and hot for my 
complexion. 

Osric. Exceedingly, my lord ; it is very sultry, — as 
'twere, — I cannot tell how. But, my lord, his majesty bade 
me signify to you that he has laid a great wager on your 
head : sir, this is the matter, — 103 

Hamlet. I beseech you, remember — 

\_Hamlet moves him to put on his hat. 

Osric. Nay, good my lord ; for mine ease, in good faith. 
Sir, here is newly come to court Laertes ; believe me, an 
absolute gentleman, full of most excellent differences, of very 
soft society and great showing ; indeed, to speak feelingly of 
him, he is the card or calendar of gentry, for you shall find in 
him the continent of what part a gentleman would see. no 

Hamlet. Sir, his definement suffers no perdition in you ; 
though, I know, to divide him inventorially would dizzy the 
arithmetic of memory, and yet but yaw neither, in respect of 
his quick sail. But, in the verity of extolment, I take him 



136 ' HAMLET, [ACT V. 

to be a soul of great article ; and his infusion of such dearth 
and rareness, as, to make true diction of him, his semblable 
is his mirror ; and who else would trace him, his umbrage, 
nothing more. 

Osric. Your lordship speaks most infallibly of him. 

Hamlet. The concernancy, sir ? why do we wrap the gen- 
tleman in our more rawer breath ? 121 

Osric. Sir ? 

Horatio. Is't not possible to understand in another 
tongue ? You will do't, sir, really. 

Hamlet. What imports the nomination of this gentleman ? 

Osric. Of Laertes ? 

Horatio. His purse is empty already ; all's golden words 
are spent. 

Hamlet. Of him, sir. 

Osric. I know you are not ignorant - — 

Hamlet. I would you did, sir ; yet, in faith, if you did, it 
would not much approve me. Well, sir? 

Osric. You are not ignorant of what excellence Laertes 
is — 

Hamlet. I dare not confess that, lest I should compare 
with him in excellence ; but, to know a man well, were to 
know himself. 

Osric. I mean, sir, for his weapon ;*but in the imputation 
laid on him by them, in his meed he's unfellowed. 

Hamlet. What's his weapon? 140 

Osric. Rapier and dagger. 

Hamlet. That's two of his weapons : but, well. 

Osric. The king, sir, hath wagered with him six Barbary 
horses : against the which he has imponed, as I take it, six 
French rapiers and poniards, with their assigns, as girdle, 
hangers, and so ; three of the carriages, in faith, are very 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 137 

dear to fancy, very responsive to the hilts, most delicate 
carriages, and of very liberal conceit. 

Hamlet. What call you the carriages ? 

Horatio. I knew you must be edified by the margent ere 
you had done. 151 

Osric. The carriages, sir, are the hangers. 

Hamlet. The phrase would be more german to the mat- 
ter, if we could carry cannon by our sides : I would it might 
be hangers till then. But, on : six Barbary horses against 
six French swords, their assigns, and three liberal-conceited 
carriages ; that's the French bet against the Danish. Why 
is this ^imponed,' as you call it? 

Osric. The king, sir, hath laid, that in a dozen passes be- 
tween yourself and him, he shall not exceed you three hits : 
he hath laid on twelve for nine ; and it would come to im- 
mediate trial, if your lordship would vouchsafe the answer. 

Hamlet. How if I answer ^ no ' ? 163 

Osric. I mean, my lord, the opposition of your person in 
trial. 

Hamlet. Sir, I will walk here in the hall : if it please his 
majesty, 'tis the breathing time of day with me; let the foils 
be brought, the gentleman willing, and the king hold his 
purpose, I will win for him an I can ; if not, I will gain noth- 
ing but my shame and the odd hits. 170 

Osric. Shall I re-deliver you e'en so? 

Hamlet. To this effect, sir; after what flourish your 
nature will. 

Osric. I commend my duty to your lordship. 

Hamlet. Yours, yours. \_Exit Osric.'] He does well to 
commend it himself; there are no tongues else for's turn. 

Horatio. This lapwing runs away with the shell on his 
head. 



138 HAMLET, [ACT V. 

Hamlet. He did comply with his dug, before he sucked 
it. Thus has he — and many more of the same breed that I 
know the drossy age dotes on — only got the tune of the 
time and outward habit of encounter ; a kind of yesty col- 
lection, which carries them through and through the- most 
fond and winnowed opinions ; and do but blow them to 
their trial, the bubbles are out. 185 

Enter a Lord. 

Lord. My lord, his majesty commended him to you by 
young Osric, who brings back to him, that you attend him 
in the hall : he sends to know if your pleasure hold to play 
with Laertes, or that you will take longer time. 

Hamlet. I am constant to my purposes ; they follow the 
king's pleasure : if his fitness speaks, mine is ready ; now or 
whensoever, provided I be so able as now. 192 

Lord. The king and queen and all are coming down. 

Hamlet. In happy time. 

Lord. The queen desires you to use some gentle enter- 
tainment to Laertes before you fall to play. 

Hamlet. She well instructs me. \_Exit Lord. 

Horatio. You will lose this wager, my lord. 

Hamlet. I do not think so : since he went into France, I 
have been in continual practice ; I shall win at the odds. 
But thou wouldst not think how ill all's here about my 
heart : but it is no matter. 

Horatio. Nay, good my lord, — 

Ha77ilet. It is but foolery ; but it is such a kind of gain- 
giving, as would perhaps trouble a woman. 205 

Horatio. If your mind dislike any thing, obey it : I will 
forestall their repair hither, and say you are not fit. 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 1 39 

Hamlet. Not a whit, we defy augury : there's a special 
providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to 
come ; if it be not to come, it will be now ; if it be not now, 
yet it will come : the readiness is all : since no man has 
aught of what he leaves, what is't to leave betimes ? 

Enter King, Queen, Laertes, Lords, Osric, and Attend- 
ants with foils, etc. 

King. Come, Hamlet, come, and take this hand from me. 
\The King puts Laertes"* hand into Hamlefs. 

Hamlet. Give me your pardon, sir : I've done you wrong ; 
But pardon't, as you are a gentleman. 
This presence knows, 

And you must needs have heard, how I am punish'd 
With sore distraction. What I have done. 
That might your nature, honour and exception 
Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness. 220 

Was't Hamlet wrong'd Laertes ? Never Hamlet : 
If Hamlet from himself be ta'en away. 
And when he's not himself does wrong Laertes, 
Then Hamlet does it not, Hamlet denies it. 
Who does it, then? His madness : if 't be so, 
Hamlet is of the faction that is wrong'd ; 
His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy. 
Sir, in this audience, 

Let my disclaiming from a purposed evil 
Free me so far in your most generous thoughts, 230 

That I have shot mine arrow o'er the house, 
And hurt my brother. 

Laertes. I am satisfied in nature, 

Whose motive, in this case, should stir me most 



140 HAMLET, [ACT V. 

To my revenge : but in my terms of honour 

I stand aloof; and will no reconcilement, 

Till by some elder masters, of known honour, 

I have a voice and precedent of peace. 

To keep my name ungored. But till that time, 

I do receive your oifer'd love like love, 

And will not wrong it. 

Hamlet. I embrace it freely ; 240 

And will this brother's wager frankly play. 
Give us the foils. Come on. 

Laertes. Come, one for me. 

Hamlet. I'll be your foil, Laertes : in mine ignorance 
Your skill shall, hke a star i' the darkest night, 
Stick fiery off indeed. 

Laertes. You mock me, sir. 

Hamlet. No, by this hand. 

King. Give them the foils, young Osric. Cousin Hamlet, 
You know the wager? 

Hamlet. Very well, my lord ; 

Your grace hath laid the odds o' the weaker side. 

King. I do not fear it ; I have seen you both : 250 

But since he is better'd, we have therefore odds. 

Laertes. This is too heavy, let me see another, 

Hamlet. This likes me well. These foils have all a 
length ? \They prepa re to play. 

Osric. Ay, my good lord. 

King. Set me the stoups of wine upon that table. 
If Hamlet give the first or second hit, 
Or quit in answer of the third exchange, 
Let all the battlements their ordnance fire ; 
The king shall drink to Hamlet's better breath ; 
And in the cup an union shall he throw, 260 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 141 

Richer than that which four successive kings • 

In Denmark's crown have worn. Give me the cups ; 

And let the kettle to the trumpet speak, 

The trumpet to the cannoneer without, 

The cannons to the heavens, the heavens the earth, 

' Now the king drinks to Hamlet ! ' Come, begin : 

And you, the judges, bear a wary eye. 

Hamlet. Come on, sir. 

Laertes. Come, my lord. \They play. 

Hamlet. One. 

Laertes. No. 

Hamlet. Judgement. 

Osric. A hit, a very palpable hit. 

Laertes. Well ; again. 

King. Stay ; give me drink. Hamlet, this pearl is thine : 
Here's to thy health. 

\Trumpets sounds, and cannon shot off within. 
Give him the cup. 271 

Hamlet. I'll play this bout first ; set it by awhile. 
Come. \_They play.'\ Another hit; what say you? 

Laertes. A touch, a touch, I do confess. 

King. Our son shall win. 

Queen. He's fat and scant of breath. 

Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows : 
The queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet. 

Hamlet. Good madam. 

King. Gertrude, do not drink. 

Queen. I will, my lord ; I pray you, pardon me. 

King. \_Aside'\ It is the poison'd cup : it is too late. 280 

Hamlet. I dare not drink yet, madam ; by and by. 

Queen. Come, let me wipe thy face. 

Laertes. My lord, I'll hit him now. 



142 HAMLET, [act v. 

King. ' I do not think't. 

Laertes. \_Aside'\ And yet 'tis almost 'gainst my conscience. 

Hamlet. ■ Come, for the third, Laertes : you but dally ; 
I pray you, pass with your best violence ; 
I am afeard you make a wanton of me. 

Laertes. Say you so? come on. \They play. 

Osric. Nothing, neither way. 289 

Laertes. Have at you now ! 

\_Laertes wounds Hamlet ; then, i7i scuffling, they 
change rapiers, and Hamlet wounds Laertes. 

King. Part them j they are incensed. 

Hamlet. Nay, come, again. \_The Queen falls. 

Osric. Look to the qeeen there, ho ! 

Horatio. They bleed on both sides. How is it, my lord? 

Osric. How is't, Laertes ? 

Laertes. Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe, Osric ; 
I am justly kiU'd with mine own treachery. 

Hamlet. How does the queen? 

King. ' She swounds to see them bleed. 

Queen. No, no, the drink, the drink, — O my dear Ham- 
let,— 

The drink, the drink ! I am poison'd. \_Dies. 

Hamlet. O villany ! Ho ! let the door be lock'd ! 
Treachery ! Seek it out ! 300 

Laertes. It is here, Hamlet : Hamlet, thou art slain ; 
No medicine in the world can do thee good ; 
In thee there is not half an hour of life : 
The treacherous instrument is in thy hand, 
Unbated and envenom'd. The foul practice 
Hath turn'd itself on me ; lo, here I lie. 
Never to rise again : thy mother's poison'd : 
I can no more : the king, the king's to blame. 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 1 43 

Hamlet. The point envenom'd too ! 
Then, venom, to thy work ! \^Stabs the King. 

All. Treason ! treason ! 3n 

King. O, yet defend me, friends ; I am but hurt. 

Hamlet. Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane, 
Drink off this potion ! Is thy union here ? 
Follow my mother ! \_King dies. 

Laertes. He is justly served ; 

It is a poison temper'd by himself. 
Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet : 
Mine and my father's death come not upon thee, 
Nor thine on me ! \^Dies, 

Hamlet. Heaven make thee free of it ! I follow thee. 
I am dead, Horatio. Wretched queen, adieu ! 321 

You that look pale and tremble at this chance, 
That are but mutes or audience to this act, 
Had I but time — as this fell sergeant, death^ 
Is strict in his arrest — O, I could tell you — 
But let it be. Horatio, I am dead ; 
Thou livest ; report me and my cause aright 
To the unsatisfied. 

Horatio. Never believe it : 

I am more an antique Roman than a Dane : 
Here's yet some liquor left. 

Hamlet. As thou'rt a man, 330 

Give me the cup : let go ; by heaven, I'll have't, 
O good Horatio, what a wounded name, 
Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me ! 
If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart, 
Absent thee from felicity awhile, 
And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain. 
To tell my story. \^March afar offy and shot within. 

What warlike noise is this ? 



144 HAMLET, [ACT V. 

Osric. Young Fortinbras, with conquest come from Po- 
land, 
To the ambassadors of England gives 
This warlike volley. 

Hamlet. O, I die, Horatio ; 340 

The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit : 
I cannot live to hear the news from England ; 
But I do prophesy the election lights 
On Fortinbras : he has my dying voice j 
So tell him, with the occurrents more and less, 
Which have solicited. The rest is silence. \Dies, 

Horatio. Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet 
prince ; 
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest ! 
Why does the drum come hither? \March within. 

Enter Fortinbras, the English Ambassadors, 
and others. 

Fortinbras. Where is this sight ? 

Horatio. What is it ye would see ? 

If aught of woe or wonder, cease your search. 351 

Fortinbras. This quarry cries on havoc. O proud death. 
What feast is toward in thine eternal cell. 
That thou so many princes at a shot 
So bloodily hast struck ? 

First Ambassador. The sight is dismal ; 

And our affairs from England come too late : 
The ears are senseless that should give us hearing. 
To tell him his commandment is fulfill'd. 
That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead : 
Where should we have our thanks ? 



SCENE II.] PRINCE OF DENMARK. 145 

Horatio. Not from his mouth, 

Had it the ability of life to thank you : 361 

He never gave commandment for their death. 
But since, so jump upon this bloody question, 
You from the Polack wars, and you from England, 
Are here arrived, give order .that these bodies 
High on a stage be placed to view ; 
And let me speak to the yet unknowing world 
How these things came about : so shall you hear 
Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts. 

Of accidental judgements, casual slaughters, 370 

Of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause, 
And, in this upshot, purposes mistook 
Fall'n on the inventors' heads : all this can I 
Truly deliver. 

Foi'tinbi^as. Let us haste to hear it. 
And call the noblest to the audience. 
For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune : 
I have some rights of memory in this kingdom. 
Which now to claim my vantage doth invite me. 

Horatio. Of that I shall have also cause to speak. 
And from his mouth whose voice will draw on more : 380 
But let this same be presently perform'd. 
Even while men's minds are wild ; lest more mischance, 
On plots and errors, happen. 

Fortinbras. Let four captains 

Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage ; 
For he was likely, had he been put on. 
To have proved most royally : and, for his passage, 
The soldiers' music and the rites of war 
Speak loudly for him. 
Take up the bodies.: such a sight as this 



146 HAMLET. [ACT V. 

Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss. 390 

Go, bid the soldiers shoot. 

\^A dead ma^rh. Exeunt, bearing off the dead bodies; 
after which a peal of ordnance is shot off. 



ACT v.] EXPLANATORY NOTES. 147 

EXPLANATORY NOTES. 

Scene i. ' 

1. 3. " Make her grave straight," — straightway, at once, 

1. 12. " Argal," — Ergo^'x.^. therefore. 

1. 86. "To play at loggats with 'em," — play ninepins. 

1. 93. " His quiddities now, his quillets," — his nice questions and 

distinctions. 
1. 99. " The fine of his fines," — end of his fines. 
1. 133. *' He galls his kibe," — chilblain. 
1. 204. "The winter's flaw," — blasts of wind. 

1. 219. " Shards, flints, and pebbles," — sherds.^ broken bits of pottery. 
1.220. . . . " Her virgin crants," — garlands. 
1. 264. " Woo't drink up eisel ? " — vinegar. 
1. 275. " When that her golden couplets are disclosed," — her yellow 

brood are hatched. 

Scene 2. 

1. 6. . . . "The mutines in the bilboes," — the mutineers in the 

stocks. 
1. 22. . . . " Such bugs and goblins," — 's.yx.oh bugbears. 
1. 33. ... "As our statists do," — our states7jien. 
1. 88. . . . " 'Tis a chough," — coarse boor. 
1. 107. "Full of most excellent differences," — conjectured to mean, 

" full of different excellencies " (points of excellence) . 
1. 113. "But yaw neither, in respect of his quick sail," — Hudson 

says is equivalent to, " would be but a slow and staggering 

process, compared to his swift sailing." 
1. 117. "His umbrage, nothing more," — nothing can follow nor 

imitate (^^Hrace ") him save his shadow (" umbrage''''^. 
1. 150. " By the margent," —by marginal references, explanations. 
1. 153. " More german to the matter," — more appropriate. 
1. 167. " 'Tis the breathing-time of day," — time for exercise. 
1. 204. " A kind of gain-giving," — misgiving. 
1. 260. " And in the cup an union," — a large pearl. 



148 HAMLET. 

1. 287. ..." You make a wanton of me," — a child of me. 

1. 345. . . . " With the occurrents . . . which have solicited," — the 

events which have excited me. 
1.352. . . . "This quarry," — this /^^«/ <7/^^at^. 



ACT I. 

♦ 

QUESTIONS. 

Scene i. 

What are the circumstances attending the opening of this 
scene ? 

Was it correct for Bernardo to first address Francisco ? 

What is shown by his being the first to speak ? 

Why did Bernardo cry " Long five the king ! "? 

What is the especial significance of Bernardo's desire to 
know whether or not Francisco's watch had been quiet ? 

Why was Bernardo anxious for the arrival of Horatio and 
Marcellus ? 

What difference may be observed, in the earlier part of 
the scene, between the temperament of Horatio and of his 
companions ? 

Why should there have been a difference ? 

Why was Horatio chosen as spokesman to the ghost ? 

Why assign such a task to a " scholar " ? 

Is the appropriateness of styling Horatio a "scholar" 
verified by any circumstance in the scene ? 

Was Horatio sceptical regarding the ghost's appearance? 

What effect was produced upon him when he first saw it? 

Upon how many previous occasions had the ghost ap- 
peared? 

149 



150 HAMLET. [ACT I. 

How did Horatio account for its coming to earth again ? 

Did Bernardo's theory coincide? 

Upon what ground did Horatio base his reasons ? 

How did Horatio's second reception of the ghost differ 
from his first? 

In what ways did he conjure it to speak to him? 

Was he successful? 

What caused the ghost to depart so suddenly? 

What plan was agreed upon to compel the ghost to speak, 
if it should appear again ? 

From the words of Horatio, describe what had been the 
recent affairs of the Danish kingdom. 

How had Denmark become possessed of some of Nor- 
way's territory? 

Why were the nightly guards maintained about the palace ? 

How is the particular night described upon which the 
ghost appeared ? 

What is the significance of so describing it ? 

Was there any suggestion of the true reason for the ghost's 
appearance ? 

What could have been the purpose of the ghost in ap- 
pearing to the officers of the guard, and not to Francisco ? 

Why, above all, did it appear to Horatio ? 

Where is the hero of the play first mentioned ? 

Is anything mentioned regarding his age ? 

What has been brought forward in the development of the 
play by the first scene ? 

Scene 2. 

What relation to Hamlet was the present king of Den- 
mark, before marrying the queen ? 
What was the name of the deceased king? 



ACT I.] QUESTIONS. 151 

What is Hamlet's deportment and apparel when he is 
introduced in the play? 

Why did the queen rebuke him ? 

What was the principal cause of Hamlet's grief? 

Who felt the more sincere sorrow over the death of the 
late king, Hamlet or his mother? 

How long had the king been dead when his wife again 
married ? 

What difference is to be seen between Hamlet's replies to 
his mother and to the king? 

^ In the speech of the king to the court, what do we learn 
regarding affairs of the kingdom ? 

Who was Laertes ? 

Whence had he come to Denmark, and what had brought 
him? 

Whence had Hamlet come to the court? 

Was the king anxious to retain or dismiss him ? 

What possible reason for his anxiety? 

What had made Hamlet and Horatio such friends ? 

Had they come from Wittenberg together or at different 
times ? 

Upon Hamlet's saying " Methinks I see ray father," why 
did Horatio so suddenly exclaim "Where, my lord?"? 

How did Horatio manage to introduce the matter of the 
ghost's appearance? 

How did Hamlet act upon receiving such news ? 

Did he show any doubt as to the truth of his friend's tale ? 

Did he hesitate in deciding what steps to take ? 

What is the character of the questions propounded by 
him to gain the particulars of the ghost's appearance ? 

Did the eye-witnesses agree entirely in their accounts ? 

Previous to hearing Horatio's story, what was the prin- 
cipal cause for Hamlet's hatred of the king? 



152 HAMLET. [ACT 1. 

What suspicion rushed to his mind when he heard of the 
ghost's visitation? 

From what has been seen of Hamlet thus far, what esti- 
mate may be formed of his character? 

What has been added to the plot of the story by this 
second scene? 

Scene 3. 

What new and important character is introduced in this 
scene ? 

What were the relations existing between Hamlet and 
Ophelia ? 

What was Laertes' opinion regarding the intentions of the 
prince ? 

Why did he bid Ophelia be upon her guard, even if Ham- 
let were honorable in his intentions towards her ? 

How did he advise that she act ? 

Was Laertes inclined to receive advice from his sister? 

Had Ophelia confidence in Hamlet's love for her? 

Did Polonius' opinion regarding Hamlet's love for his 
daughter coincide with that of Laertes ? 

How did Ophelia keep her promise to Laertes, that their 
conversation regarding Hamlet should be a guarded secret ? 

Can her action be justified ? 

What is the character of Polonius' advice to Laertes, as 
the latter sets out on his journey? 

Which of his own precepts did the old man violate while 
giving his advice? 

Among his numerous maxims, which was pre-eminently the 
best? 

Why was this long harangue to Laertes peculiarly — even 
absurdly — out of place at this particular time ? 

How has the foregoing scene advanced the plot? 



ACT I.] QUESTIONS. 153 

Scene 4. 

What was the nature of the night upon which Hamlet 
and two of his companions determined to await the ghost ? 

How did it compare with the night when Francisco was 
found on guard, in the first scene ? 

Why was the question raised concerning the exact hour of 
the night? 

How did Hamlet express his want of respect for the reign- 
ing king? 

What is the substance of his words about forming estimates 
of men's characters ? 

What means has Shakespeare taken to bring the ghost 
suddenly upon the watchers, notwithstanding their expecta- 
tion of seeing it? 

Upon its appearance, was there any hesitation on the part 
of Hamlet in addressing it ? 

How did the ghost's deportment toward Hamlet differ 
from its behavior to the other watchers on a previous 
occasion ? 

Who had the greater confidence in the ghost, Hamlet or 
his companions? 

What former witness was now absent ? 

What reasons did Hamlet give for not fearing to follow 
the ghost? 

Why did Horatio endeavor to dissuade him ? 

Were the attempts of Horatio and Marcellus to detain 
Hamlet confined to words ? 

What did Marcellus think portended by the repeated 
appearance of the ghost ? 

Who, on a previous occasion, had made a similar con- 
jecture? 



\ 



154 HAMLET. [ACT I. 

Was the ghost wiUing to converse with Hamlet in the 
presence of witnesses? 

Does this scene bring forward any new phase of the 
prince's character? 

Scene 5. 

Alone, in the presence of the ghost, did Hamlet show any 
fear? 

In which realm of the dead did the ghostly king describe 
himself located? 

What had been reported as the cause of the king's 
death ? 

Why had it been easy to maintain the truth of such a 
report? 

Describe the method used in murdering the king. 

Had the idea of murder yet come to Hamlet's mind? 

How did he receive the announcement? 

What is the significance of his exclamation, " O my pro- 
phetic soul ! My uncle ! " ? 

Did Hamlet hesitate to undertake the task of revenge? 

How did the murdered king consider the attainments of 
his brother as compared with his own? 

Did he consider that his brother's greatest crime lay in 
the mere act of murdering him ? 

In his directions to Hamlet, what two particular warnings 
were emphasized ? 

What is the significance of the first ? 

What circumstance led the ghost to retire ? 

What caused its departure on the previous occasion? 

Show how the character and future of Hamlet were com- 
pletely changed by what he had learned in this interview. 

What resolution did he take ? 



ACT I.] QUESTIONS. 155 

In what manner did he greet his friends when they came 
in search of him? 

How may his words be accounted for? 

To what oath did he bind Horatio and Marcellus? 

How did he particularly warn them to be watchful of 
their behavior? 

Explain the importance of such a warning. 

What was Horatio's opinion of Hamlet's department? 

How did Hamlet's parting words to the ghost, when 
heard for the last time below the platform, differ from his 
previous mode of addressing him ? 

Why was Hamlet's position, after the interview with the 
ghost, particularly difficult to maintain before the world? 

Where in this scene are found traces of the teachings of 
the Church? 

Briefly, what has been presented by the first act? 



156 HAMLET. [ACT I. 

OBSERVATIONS. 

Scene i. 

Coleridge bids us observe the peremptoriness of Fran- 
cisco at the opening of this scene — a proof of his being in 
a perturbed state of mind. Men are never so peremptory 
as when startled. Notice how much less sharp are the 
challenges and answers when the two men are on guard, 
than when Francisco stood alone. 

Coleridge also calls attention to the artistic v/ay in which 
the absolute silence at the opening of the scene is restored, 
when Horatio, after his greetings, sits down with the others 
to hear, at this late hour, in this chilly, ghostly spot, the tale 
of the spectral visitant related by those who had actually 
beheld it. 

Scene 2. 

Observe the natural gradation of questions and answers 
whereby Horatio introduces the somewhat delicate matter 
of having seen the ghost of Hamlet's father ; also, the sim- 
ple, natural, and at the same time important questions put 
by Hamlet himself, in gaining the particulars of the narrative. 

Coleridge notes the set and antithetic style of the king's 
expression when he touches upon that *' which galled the 
heel of conscience," but his almost majestic diction when 
he mentions matters of state. 

Scene 3. 

There is a great difference of opinion regarding the inten- 
tions of Shakespeare in his delineation of certain characters 
who are prominent in this scene. 



ACT I.] OBSERVATIONS. 157 

Some think that his object was not to belittle Polonius, by 
displaying his senility, but to make the aged lord-chamber- 
lain, by his superficiality, a contrast to the earnest, deep- 
souled young prince. Other critics maintain that Polonius 
is simply a refinement of the comic element demanded in 
every play by the fun-loving occupants of the pit. After 
the death of Polonius, this element is furnished by the 
clowns in the churchyard scene. • 

In respect to the character of Ophelia, critical estimates 
go to even greater lengths of contrariety than in the case 
of her father. They vary from those which interpret her 
replies to her brother and her father, in this scene, as the 
outspeakings of true, womanly innocence, suspecting no 
insincerity from the prince, to those which would rate her 
a doll — a puppet — and her replies nothing more than the 
empty responses of a mind incapable of producing anything 
more material. 

In continuing the play, let the student bear these different 
views in mind, and make his o\vn inferences as to which 
may be the true one, from the development of the plot. 

Scene 4. 

"The unimportant conversation with which this scene 
opens is a proof of Shakespeare's minute knowledge of human 
nature. . . . This dialogue on the platform begins with re- 
marks on the coldness of the air, and inquiries, obliquely 
connected, indeed, with the expected hour of the visitation, 
but thrown out in a seeming vacuity of topics, as to the 
striking of the clock, and so forth. The same desire to 
escape from the impending thought is carried on in Ham- 
let's account of, and moralizing on, the Danish custom of 
wassailing. ... By thus entangling the attention of the 



158 HAMLET. [ACT I. 

audience in the nice distinctions and parenthetical sentences 
of this speech of Hamlet's, Shakespeare takes them com- 
pletely by surprise on the appearance of the ghost. . . . 
No modem writer would have dared, like Shakespeare, to 
have preceded this last visitation by two distinct appear- 
ances, — or could have contrived that the third should rise 
upon the former two in impressiveness and solemnity of 
interest." -m- Coleridge. 

Scene 5. 

" The duty of avenging his father's death is entrusted to 
him [Hamlet], and this at a moment when he realizes fully 
his own isolation and the untrustworthiness of mankind. 
What line he will take is the problem to be worked out. 
This, time alone will show. . . . Meanwhile Hamlet has to 
form his first plan of action. To act at once on such evi- 
dence [the ghost's story] might be the part of a madman, 
but never of a philosopher. To appear as before with such 
a secret upon his mind was equally out of the question. So 
he decides to gain time by counterfeiting madness, and 
imparts just a hint to his friends to keep their counsel, and 
not to betray his secret by word or deed." — Ransome. 

" And when the ghost has vanished, who is it we see stand- 
ing before us ? A young hero panting for vengeance ? A 
bom prince, feeling himself favored in being summoned to 
punish the usurper of his crown? No! Amazement and 
sorrow overwhelm the solitary young man; he becomes 
bitter against smiling villains, swears never to forget the 
departed, and concludes with the significant ejaculation : 

"*The time is out of joint; O cursed spite, 
That ever I was born to set it right ! ' 



ACT I.] OBSERVATIONS. 159 

In these words, I imagine, is the key to Hamlet's whole 
procedure, and to me it is clear that Shakespeare sought 
to depict a great deed laid upon a soul unequal to the per- 
formance of it. In this view I find the piece composed 
throughout. Here is an oak-tree planted in a costly vase, 
which should have received into its bosom only lovely flow- 
ers ; the roots spread out, the vase is shivered to pieces." 
— Goethe's ^'Wilhelm Meister^'' ; Carlyle's translation 
quoted by Furness. 



t6o hamlet. [act I. 

FAMILIAR PASSAGES. 
Scene i. 

" For this relief much thanks." 

" And then it started like a guilty thing, 
Upon a dreadful summons." 

" Whose sore task 
Does not divide the Sunday from the week." 

Scene 2. 

" A little more than kin, and less than kind." 

" All that lives must die. 
Passing through nature to eternity." 

" That it should come to this ! " 

" Frailty, thy name is vi^oman ! " 

" In my mind's eye, Horatio." 

" He vizs, a man, take him all in all, 
I shall not look upon his like again." 

" A countenance more in sorrow than in anger." 

"Give it an understanding, but no tongue." 

" Foul deeds will rise, 
Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes." 

Scene 3. 

" Do not, as some ungracious pastors do. 
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven. 
Whiles, like a puff d and reckless libertine, 
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads. 
And recks not his own rede." 

" Give thy thoughts no tongue." 



ACT I.] FAMILIAR PASSAGES. l6l 

" Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice ; 
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgement. 
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, 
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy; 
For the apparel oft proclaims the man, 



Neither a borrower nor a lender be; 
For loan oft loses both itself and friend, 
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. 
This above all : to thine own self be true. 
And it must follow, as the night the day, 
Thou canst not then be false to any man." 

Scene 4. 

" It is a nipping and an eager air. " 

" But to my mind, though 1 am native here, 
And to the manor born, it is a custom 
More honour'd in the breach than the observance." 

" Angels and ministers of grace, defend us ! " 

"Unhand me, gentlemen. 
By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me ! " 

Scene 5. 

*' I am thy father's spirit, 
Doomed for a certain term to walk the night, 
And for the day confined to fast in fires. 
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature 
Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid 
To tell the secrets of my prison house, 
I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word 
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood. 
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, 
Thy knotted and combined locks to part. 
And each particular hair to stand on end. 
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine." 

"O my prophetic soul," 



l62 HAMLET. 

" Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin, 
Unhousel'd, disappointed, unaneled, 
No reckoning made, but sent to my account 
With all my imperfections on my head." 

" Leave her to heaven 
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge, 
To prick and sting her." 

" Meet it is I set it down, 
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain." 

"There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave 
To tell us this." 

" O day and night, but this is wondrous strange ! " 

" There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, 
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." 

" The time is out of joint : O cursed spite, 
That ever I was born to set it right ! " 



ACT II. 

» 

QUESTIONS. 

Scene i. 

What may have been Shakespeare's purpose m introduc- 
ing this trivial episode of Polonius and Reynaldo ? 

Upon what errand was Polonius sending Reynaldo to 
Paris ? 

How did he direct Reynaldo to proceed, in order to find 
the method in which Laertes was spending his time ? 

What tale did Ophelia bring to her father about the 
actions of Hamlet ? 

How did Polonius straightway interpret the prince's 
deportment upon this occasion ? 

Can any other interpretation be given? 

Scene 2. 

What means were taken by the king and queen to reach 
the true cause of Hamlet's melancholy? 

To what causes did they think it probably due ? 

In assigning these causes, is there reason to think that the 
queen felt any sensation of guilt ? 

Is any difference apparent between the king's and the 
queen's address to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern ? 

Why were these two men selected for sounding Hamlet ? 

16:; 



1 64 HAMLET. [ACT II. 

Wherein lies the humor of Polonius' speech, beginning 
with the words, " My liege and madam " ? 

Do either the queen or the king appear sensible of Polo- 
nius' wandering senihty? 

In the opinion of Polonius how had Hamlet reached his 
state of madness ? 

Was the old lord-chamberlain confident of his own per- 
spicacity ? 

Did the king share in his confidence of the true cause of 
the prince's malady? 

How did Polonius propose to demonstrate to the king the 
truth of the matter ? 

What indelicacy did the old man show in his plan? 

What did Polonius represent to the king and queen as 
having been his advice to Ophelia ? 

What was his object in making this known to them? 

In Hamlet's conversation with Polonius, are the prince's 
remarks the senseless and disjointed words of a man out of 
his mind? 

How did they appear to Polonius ? 

What strengthened him in his theory of the cause of Ham- 
let's madness? 

What words of Hamlet showed that he understood the 
prying purpose of Polonius ? 

What was the prince's estimate of the old courtier? 

Was his harshness and want of respect necessary for the 
part which he was acting ? 

Do his words with Rosencrantz and Guildenstem show 
that Hamlet had considerable of the misanthropic element 
in his nature, — then, at any rate ? 

To what causes did his two friends assign his melancholy ? 

Could they conceal their real errand from him ? 



ACT II.] QUESTIONS. 165 

In his apparently free confession to his friends what did 
he conceal? 

Was his hint of his madness being assumed, a weak admis- 
sion ? 

Observe in their future conversations with the monarch, 
if they seem to have grasped the full force of the hint. 

What persons now had reason to know that Hamlet was 
acting a part ? 

Did any of them know, or suspect the true cause ? 

How did Hamlet belie his own words, " Man delights not 
me "? 

Give a reason why the scene recited by the player should 
have been selected by Hamlet, by showing a correspondence 
between the scenes therein contained, and those actually 
going on at the Danish court. 

How did Hamlet's deportment, upon the arrival of the 
players, contrast with his previous words and actions? 

How did the criticisms of Hamlet and Polonius upon act- 
ing compare w^th each other? 

Why did Hamlet, when alone, heap reproaches upon him self? 

How did his determination to await the testimony of the 
play show the justice of his self-denunciation ? 

In what way did he justify to himself the postponement of 
his vengeance? 

Compare the spirit shown in Hamlet's words, Act I, Scene 
5, beginning, " O all you host of heaven ! O earth ! " with the 
spirit underlying his soliloquy at the close of the present 
scene. From this comparison show what was the most 
serious weakness against which he had to contend. 

By this act, what side of the prince's character has been 
emphasized ? 

What by the first act? 

How has the plot been furthered by this scene? 



1 66 HAMLET. [ACT II. 

OBSERVATIONS. 

Scene i. 

It has been said that Shakespeare's purpose of introduc- 
ing the episode of Polonius and Reynaldo, narrated in this 
scene, was twofold. First, to serve as a short relief to the 
minds of the audience, after the exciting events at the close 
of the preceding act ; and, secondly, to present the internal 
rottenness of the society of the Danish court, explaining 
some of Hamlet's subsequent action. 

Scene 2. 

Compare the following two remarks on a passage of this 
scene : "... This gave Hamlet a good opportunity to 
begin impressively the play of his feigned madness, and 
sometime after the appearance of the ghost . . . the Prince 
startled poor OpheHa by coming before her in a slovenly 
dress, — he who was usually a dainty man in his apparel, — 
and by wild and melancholy actions ; after which he left 
her, sighing deeply, but not speaking. She told this to her 
father, who, immediately inferring that the Prince was mad 
for his daughter's love, spread the report about the palace." 
— White. 

"... Hamlet's belief in humanity has received a third 
shock. Already he has found his uncle a murderer, his 
mother unfaithful to his father, and the murderer and seducer 
wearing the crown of his father amidst the applause of his 
countrymen. There is, however, one person in whom he 
yet believes — Ophelia, the love of his youth. To her he 
has gone in his affliction ; but what has happened. * She, 
as her father commanded, did repel his letters and denied 



ACT II.] OBSERVATIONS. 167 

him access.' For Hamlet there could only be one possible 
explanation ' of her conduct. She must be turning to him 
the cold shoulder because he has lost his crown. Such, in 
all probability, is the true explanation of Hamlet's conduct. 
It is under the influence of this idea that he visits her, and 
goes through the speechless leave-taking so pathetically 
described." — Ransome. 

"There is a kind of genealogical necessity in the char- 
acter. . . . Hamlet seems the natural result of the mixture of 
father and mother in his temperament, the resolution and 
persistence of the one, hke sound timber worm -holed and 
made shaky, as it were, by the other's infirmity of will 
and discontinuity of purpose. ... As .with Hamlet, so it is 
with Ophelia and Laertes. The father's feebleness comes up 
again in the wasting heart-break and gentle lunacy of the 
daughter, while the son shows it in a rashness of impulse and 
act, a kind of crankiness, of whose essential feebleness we 
are all the more sensible as contrasted with a nature so 
steady on its keel, and drawing so much water as that of 
Horatio." — Lowell. 

" Hamlet doubts everything. He doubts the immortality 
of the soul, just after seeing his father's spirit, and hearing 
from its mouth the secrets of the other world. He doubts 
Horatio even, and swears him to secrecy on the cross of 
his sword, though probably he himself has no assured behef 
in the sacredness of the symbol. He doubts Ophelia, and 
asks her, ' Are you honest ? ' He doubts the ghost, after he 
has had a httle time to think about it, and so gets up the 
play to test the guilt of the king." — lb. 



1 68 HAMLET. 

FAMILIAR PASSAGES. 
Scene i. 
" This is the very ecstasy of love." » 

Scene 2. 

" Brevity is the soul of wit. " 

" More matter, with less art." 

" That he is mad, 'tis true; 'tis true, 'tis pity; 
And pity 'tis 'tis true." 

"Doubt thou the stars are fire; 
Doubt that the sun doth move; 
Doubt truth to be a liar; 
But never doubt I love." 

" Still harping on my daughter." 

" Though this be madness, yet there is method in't." 

" There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." 

" Beggar that I am, I am even poor in thanks." 

" What a piece of work is man ! how noble in reason ! how infinite 
in faculty ! in form and moving how express and admirable ! in action 
how like an angel ! in apprehension how like a god ! " 

" They [players] are the abstract and brief chronicles of the time : 
after your death you were better have a bad epitaph than their ill 
report while you live." 

"Use every man after his desert, and who should 'scape whipping?" 

" What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, 
That he should weep for her?" 

" The devil hath power 
To assume a pleasing shape." 



ACT III. 

•— — 

QUESTIONS. 

Scene i. 

How did Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's report of their 
colloquy with Hamlet vary from the truth? 

Had any encouragement been given by the king or queen 
whereby Polonius could expect a favorable consideration of 
the marriage of his daughter to Hamlet ? 

How was Claudius affected by Ophelia's words, " We are 
oft to blame in this," etc.? 

Had he before betrayed any compunction for his crime? 

Where had Hamlet before considered the subject of 
suicide ? 

W^hat was his principal objection to death? 

What is the substance of his soliloquy ? 

What may Hamlet have meant by suddenly exclaiming, 
" Ha, are you honest? " (See " Observation " on this passage, 
at end of the scene.) 

Accepting the theory presented on this passage, how may 
one account for the rambUng remarks of Hamlet, which 
follow ? 

What words of Hamlet show that he is still dallying with 
his inward purpose of avenging his father's murder ? 

Show whether the words of Ophelia in this scene with 

169 



170 HAMLET. [ACT III. 

Hamlet are consistent with both of the views brought out in 
the " Observations " on Scene i of Act II. 

What feelings on her part prompted the words regarding 
the downfall of the prince's mind? 

Was the king's confidence in Polonius' theory accounting 
for the cause of Hamlet's melancholy strengthened by the 
interview between Ophelia and the prince ? 

Did Polonius still cling to his former theory? 

What did the lord-chamberlain suggest as the best means 
of dealing with Hamlet ? 

Did the king accept the suggestion? 

Scene 2. 

What was the substance of Hamlet's directions to the 
players ? 

Was his language that of an unsound mind? 

What was his estimate of flattery ? 

What traits in Horatio's character had caused Hamlet to 
select him as his friend ? 

In what respects did Horatio's and Hamlet's natures 
differ? 

What was the arrangement into which the two friends 
entered, concerning the play? 

How far, now, did Horatio understand Hamlet's secret? 

What was Hamlet's treatment of Polonius throughout this 
scene ? 

What purpose could he have had in drawing the old man 
into the discussion regarding the shape of the cloud? 

What thought had Hamlet in saying that the prologue 
was as brief " as woman's love " ? 

What was the name of the play to be presented at the 
court ? 



ACT III.] QUESTIONS. 171 

What effect upon the king had its performance? 

Did he witness it throughout? 

Was it necessary for Hamlet and Horatio to compare 
notes, as they had planned, in order to establish the king's 
guilt? Why? 

Had Hamlet now any reason for further hesitation in 
executing the enjoined vengeance upon his step-father? 

Why did he not act at once ? 

What effect upon Hamlet did the success of his strata- 
gem have ? 

What reason did Hamlet give Rosencrahtz to explain the 
cause of his " distemper " ? 

What meaning may have been lurking in the words " I 
lack advancement " ? 

Had he given a similar reason for his strange behavior 
upon any previous occasion to the same person? 

How did his true estimate of Rosencrantz appear here? 

Where previously in this act has Hamlet used the simile 
comparing man with a musical pipe ? 

In the interview with his mother, which she had demanded, 
what deportment towards her did Hamlet hope that he might 
maintain ? 

At what former occasion had he been warned to contrive 
naught against her? 

Show how Hamlet's true character is brought out by his 
words when he was left alone by Polonius. 

Scene 3. 

Did Guildenstern and Rosencrantz prove true friends of 
Hamlet? 

What induced Polonius to act as spy at Hamlet's inter- 
view with the queen ? 



172 HAMLET. [ACT III. 

Did the king enjoy peacefully the results of his crime? 

Was he a man devoid of conscience ? 

How did he endeavor to regain mental rest? 

Why did he feel that prayer for forgiveness could be of 
no avail to him ? 

How does the scene where Hamlet discovers the king 
praying in the oratory, bring out the prince's prevailing 
weakness of character? 

Why did Hamlet hesitate in then performing the act of 
vengeance ? 

Had the king hesitated, for a similar reason, to commit 
murder? 

How many proofs have now been presented, in the course 
of the play, that Claudius was the slayer of his brother ? 

Had the king been slain at this time, show how Hamlet 
might easily have defended his action. 

Has punishment, thus far, assailed any of the guilty 

parties ? 

Scene 4. 

What was the deportment of Hamlet towards his mother 
at the commencement of the interview? 

In what light did he show her marriage to be particularly 
odious ? 

Is the king's death attributed to the queen's present hus- 
band anywhere in the interview? 

Did Hamlet in any way intimate that his mother was 
privy to the murder? 

Has it thus far been intimated? 

When Hamlet ran his sword through the arras, what 
thought was uppermost in his mind ? 

Why should he not have hesitated again, as he did when 
he discovered the king at prayers in the oratory ? 



ACT III.] QUESTIONS. 1 73 

Give a reason for the ghost's appearance during the 
dialogue. 

What former injunction did it repeat to the prince ? 

From one particular, wherein the ghost's appearance here 
differed from that on the previous occasions, some have 
claimed that we have here, not the actual ghost, but a 
"coinage of the brain" of Hamlet : what is the difference? 

What did Hamlet consider the cause which brought 
his father again to earth ? 

How did he endeavor to prove to his mother that the 
ghost was no phantom aroused by his excited imagination ? 

What effect upon the queen did his reproving words have ? 

What change is evident in the manner of Hamlet towards 
his mother after the ghost's departure? 

When did his filial love appear the more strongly, before 
or after? 

What was his main reason for desiring that she should not 
again go to the king upon that particular night ? 

In what light did he view the killing of Polonius? 

Was he fully informed regarding the plans for sending him 
to England? 

Why did he intend to offer no resistance ? 

Did he trust his former school friends ? 

What result was gained by the interview with the queen? 

Who has proved the first victim in the holocaust to be 
offered in avenging the king's murder? 



174 HAMLET. [ACT III. 

OBSERVATIONS. 

Scene i. 

"Ha, ha! are you honest?" — "Here it is evident that 
the penetrating Hamlet perceives from the strange and 
forced manner of Opheha, that the sweet girl was not acting 
a part of her own, but was a decoy." — Coleridge. 

Discussing the cruel and almost brutal words of Hamlet 
to Ophelia in this scene, White says that at the outset Ham- 
let addressed her in his ordinary kind manner; he soon, 
however, recalled his cue of simulated madness and vented 
his cynical humor, by denying his love for her and reviling 
her sex. " His conduct on this occasion was so hard and 
cruel, and so far from any semblance of madness, that some 
of those who have studied his case have concluded that he 
must have discovered that the King and Polonius were over- 
hearing him. But there is no warrant for such an opinion, 
which indeed is suggested only as a support to the indefen- 
sible assumption that Hamlet, being good at heart, his con- 
duct must have been always thoroughly estimable and 
consistent ; whereas there are no graver offences or grosser 
errors than those into which kind-hearted men fall from 
lack of resolution. This, poor Hamlet saw himself, . . . 
and he declared, that of all men, these were most blessed 
who wQre so constituted that they could not be made the 
sport of fortune, and that the man whom he took to his 
inmost heart must be one who, like Horatio, was not the 
prey of his own emotions." 

" His conduct to Ophelia is quite natural in his circum- 
stances. It is that of assumed severity only. It is the 



ACT III.] OBSERVATIONS. 1 75 

effect of disappointed hope, of bitter regrets, of affection 
suspended, not obliterated, by the distraction of the scene 
around him ! Amidst the natural and preternatural horrors 
of his situation, he might be excused in delicacy from carry- 
ing on a regular courtship. When * his father's spirit was 
in arms,' it was not a time for the son to make love in. He 
could neither marry Ophelia, nor wound her mind by ex- 
plaining the cause of his alienation, which he durst hardly 
trust himself to think of. It would have taken him years to 
come to a direct explanation on the point. In the harassed 
state of his mind, he could not have done much otherwise 
than he did." — Hazlitt. 

Scene 3. 

Hamlet's hesitation in slaying his uncle while at his devo- 
tions in the oratory, has been considered by Johnson as pro- 
ceeding from mere fiendishness. This view has been 
violently assailed by other commentators. 

Scene 4. 

In the old " Hystorie of Hamblet," from which Shake- 
speare probably drew the plot of his tragedy, the queen dis- 
claims all knowledge of the murder of the former king. 



176 HAMLET. [ACT III. 

FAMILIAR PASSAGES. 

Scene i. 

" To be, or not to be : that is the question : 
"Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer 
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. 
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, 
And by opposing end them? To die : to sleep; 
No more; and by a sleep to say we end 
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks 
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation 
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; 
To sleep : perchance to dream : ay, there's the rub; 
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come 
"When we have shuffled oif this mortal coil, 
Must give us pause : there's the respect 
That makes calamity of so long life; 
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, 
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, 
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, 
The insolence of office and the spurns 
That patient merit of the unworthy takes. 
When he himself might his quietus make 
"With a bare bodkin? "Who would fardels bear. 
To grunt and sweat under a weary life. 
But that the dread of something after death. 
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn 
No traveller returns, puzzles the will 
And makes us rather bear those ills we have 
Than fly to others that we know not of? 
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; 
And thus the native hue of resolution 
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, 
And enterprises of great pith and moment, 
"With this regard their currents turn awry, 
And lose the name of action." 



ACT III.] FAMILIAR PASSAGES. 1 77 

" Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind." 

" O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown ! 
The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's eye, tongue, sword." 

"The expectancy and rose of the fair state, 
The glass of fashion and the mould of form, 
The observed of all observers ! " 

" Now see that noble and most sovereign reason, 
Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh." 

Scene 2. 

*' Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus, but use all 
gently; for in the very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say, the whirl- 
wind of passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may 
give it smoothness. O, it offends me to the soul to hear a robustious, 
periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the 
ears of the groundlings, who for the most part are capable of nothing 
but inexplicable dumb-shows and noise : I would have such a fellow 
whipped for o'erdoing Termagant; it outherods Herod: pray you, 
avoid it." 

"Suit the action to the word, the word to the action; with this 
special observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature : for 
anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both 
at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to 
nature." 

" Horatio, thou art e'en as just a man 
As ere my conversation coped withal." 

" They are not a pipe for fortune's finger 
To sound what stop she please. Give me that man 
That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him 
In my heart's core, ay, in my heart of hearts." 

" 'Tis brief, my lord." 

" As woman's love." 

" Let the galled jade wince, our withers are unwrung." 



I yS HAMLET. 

" 'Tis as easy as lying." 

" It will discourse most eloquent music." 

" 'Tis now the very witching hour of night, 
When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out 
Contagion to this world." 

Scene 3. 

" O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven; 
It hath the primal eldest curse upon't, 
A brother's murder." 

" With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May." 

Scene 4. 

" A king of shreds and patches." 

" This is the very coinage of your brain : 
This bodiless creation ecstasy 
Is very cunning in." 

" Look here, upon this picture, and on this." 

" Assume a virtue, if you have it not. 
That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat, 
Of habits devil, is angel yet in this, 
That to the use of actions fair and good 
He likewise gives a frock or livery. 
That aptly is put on." 

*• I must be cruel, only to be kind : 
Thus bad begins and worse remains behind." 

" For 'tis the sport to have the enginer 
Hoist with his own petar." 



ACT IV. 

— • — 

QUESTIONS. 

Scene i. 

Did the queen observe Hamlet's request not to again see 
the king on the night of the interview? 

What idea did she endeavor to convey to her husband 
regarding Hamlet's mental condition? 

Did she report it as she actually believed it to be ? 

What difficulty occurred to the king as likely to result 
from the murder of Polonius ? 

What personal danger did he apprehend from the prince's 
condition? 

What speedy arrangements did he make to avert this 
personal danger? 

Did the queen attempt to prevent the removal of Ham- 
let from court? 

Scenes 2 and 3. 

Why was Hamlet's manner to Rosencrantz and Guilden- 
stern so changed from what it had been when they first 
returned to court? 

What reason did the king give for hesitating to put Ham- 
let in confinement at home? 

What may have been reasons for Hamlet's popularity 

with the Danes ? 

179 



l8o HAMLET. [ACT IV. 

How did the king explain to Hamlet the necessity for 
speedily escaping from the country? 

Did any of Hamlef s words show that he comprehended 
the true reason? 

Why did he offer no objection to going? 

What reason did the king have for choosing England as 
Hamlet's destination ? 

Is there anything to show that Rosencrantz and Guilden- 
stern understood the real object of the voyage? 

Who, thus far, has gained the greater advantage, Ham- 
let or the king ? 

Scene 4. 

What was the object of introducing into the play this 
scene of Fortinbras' troops on the way to battle ? 

When and under what circumstances had the permission 
been given to young Fortinbras to lead his troops through 
Denmark? 

Was Hamlet yet placed under restraint by his attendants ? 

What did this episode of his journey suggest to the mind 
of the prince ? 

At what resolution did he arrive ? 

Was it a new one for him to form ? 

Scene 5. 

What effect upon Ophelia's mind had the murder of her 
father? 

Why was Horatio anxious that the queen grant an inter- 
view with Opheha ? 

Give a reason why the queen at first was unwilling ? 

Throughout the utterances of Ophelia what two ideas are 
most prominent ? 



ACT IV.] QUESTIONS. l8l 

What five reasons did the king give for his uneasiness of 
mind ? 

What popular emotions had been aroused by the sudden 
death of Polonius ? 

How are the natures of Hamlet and Laertes contrast 
by the occurrences of this scene ? 

What was the predominating trait of Laertes' tempera- 
ment? 

What would probably have been the result if Laertes had 
been in the place of Hamlet ? 

What was the action of the queen upon Laertes' sudden 
entrance ? 

What may be said of the deportment of the king, through- 
out the interview? 

Has he here, or elsewhere, betrayed cowardice? 

Was the true account of Polonius' death pubhcly known? 

What circumstances had led Laertes to believe the king 
his father's murderer? 

Had he seen Ophelia previous to the interview with the 
king? 

What have thus far been the unfortunate jresults of Ham- 
let's lack of determination ? 

Scene 6. 

Had the king yet suspected Horatio of being especially 
well informed regarding the inner history of the Danish 
court ? 

What reason had probably caused Hamlet not to desire 
Horatio as his companion on his trip to England? 

What are the general contents of Hamlet's letter? 

To what new revelation does he refer in his letter, which 
is to startle Horatio when he learns it ? 



1 82 HAMLET. [act IV. 

What words in the letter have led some critics to believe 
that the capture by the pirates was a pre-arrangement of 
Hamlet's ? 

What previous incidents of the play have shown that 
upon sudden emergency the prince could throw aside his 
irresolution and become a man of action ? 



Scene 7. 

How had the king quieted the anger which Laertes at 
first felt towards him ? 

What reasons did he give for not having proceeded pub- 
licly against the prince ? 

Were his reasons true ones? 

In directing the wrath of Laertes from himself to Hamlet, 
had the king any purpose beyond his own safety? 

Did the king explain to Laertes what action he had taken 
towards punishing Hamlet? 

In explaining the actions of the prince, did the king 
make any exaggerations? 

Show that, for an instant, upon the arrival of the messen- 
ger announcing Hamlet's return to Denmark, the king was 
at a loss what course to pursue. 

Upon recovering himself, what change did he make in 
his plans for the removal of the prince? 

What new light is shed upon the character of Laertes by 
his entering into the plans of the king? 

How does the king himself, in this scene, present a con- 
trast to his deportment upon previous occasions in the 
play? 

By what means did the king urge Laertes on into becom- 
ing his accomplice ? 



i 



ACT IV.] QUESTIONS. 183 

Was Laertes backward in falling in with the king's ideas ? 

What means are taken by Shakespeare of removing from 
Laertes all sympathy on the part of the audience ? 

In case of Laertes' failure, what further design did the 
king conceive for the removal of Hamlet ? 

Was the queen admitted into complicity with the plot? 

In what way are the king's words a satire on the action 
of Hamlet, when he urges on Laertes the necessity of imme- 
diate action, and the folly of awaiting special fitness of time 
or place ? 

What was the purpose of Shakespeare in announcing, at 
the end of this conversation, the sudden death of Ophelia? 

What great contrasts in character are emphasized in this 
scene ? 

Show what results have thus far been brought about by 
the irresolution of Hamlet. 



1 84 HAMLET. [ACT IV. 

OBSERVATIONS. 

Scene 5. 

" In every respect Laertes* thought is wrong and Hamlet's 
is right. So long as it was a question of evidence, the heed- 
lessness of Laertes emphasizes the wisdom of Hamlet's cau- 
tion ; but when we get to action the parts are reversed, and 
the decision and activity of Laertes, who was wrong, show 
up the hesitation and supineness of Hamlet, who was right." 
— Ransome. 

Scene 6. 

The expression in Hamlet's letter to Horatio, " But they 
knew what they did," has been thought to prove that the 
capture of Hamlet was not accidental, but a prearranged 
plan of his own. Clearly, however, it does not refer to 
the capture, but to the " mercy shown him afterwards. . . . 
Hamlet saw how he could turn the accident to account, and 
had persuaded the pirates to assist him in the plan. As 
Snider has said, his own account (in V. 2) of the adventure 
with the pirates refutes the notion that it was a device of his 

own." ROLFE. 

Scene 7. 
" Shakespeare understood perfectly the charm of indi- 
rectness, of making his readers seem to discover for them- 
selves what he means to show them. If he wishes to tell 
them that the leaves of the willow are gray on the under 
side, he does not make it a mere fact of observation by 
bluntly saying so, but makes it picturesquely reveal itself to 
us as it might in nature : — 

" ' There is a willow grows athwart the flood, 

That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream.' " 

— Lowell. 



ACT IV.] FAMILIAR PASSAGES. 1 85 

FAMILIAR PASSAGES. 

Scene 2. 
" A knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear." 

Scene 3. 

" Diseases desperate grown, 
By desperate appliance are relieved. 
Or not at all." 

Scene 5. 

" We know what we are, but know not what we may be." 

" Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes." 

" When sorrows come, they come not single spies. 
But in battalions." 

" There's such a divinity doth hedge a king, 
That treason can but peep to what it would." 

Scene 7. 

" That we would do, 
We should do when we would." 



ACT V. 

— • — 

QUESTIONS. 

Scene i. 

Why should such characters have been introduced into 
the play as the two clowns? 

What other character, earlier in the play, furnished the 
comic element? 

Why should Christian burial have been refused Ophelia ? 

What rites of the church were omitted at her funeral ? 

Was it certain whether she had died accidentally, or by 
her own hand ? 

What view of Hamlet's character was brought out by his 
conversation with Horatio, beside the grave ? 

Did Horatio manifest any sympathy with Hamlet's imagi- 
native conjectures? 

What evidence is furnished in this scene, regarding the 
age of Hamlet ? 

Who was Yorick? 

How old would Hamlet have been when Yorick died ? 

In the conversation with the clown did Hamlet prove the 
superior in wit ? 

What brought the king to the graveyard? 

Why did Hamlet and Horatio not advance at once, upon 
the approach of the funeral procession ? 
1 86 



QUESTIONS. 187 

Did Hamlet know that Ophelia was dead ? 

What first revealed to him that this was Ophelia's fiineral ? 

How did the prince know that the funeral ceremonies 
were those of a suicide ? 

Who, besides Hamlet and Laertes, showed sincere grief 
over Ophelia's death ? 

How did Laertes' manifestation of grief accord with his 
temperament, as brought out on previous occasions? 

What two sides of Hamlet's character are exhibited in 
the graveyard scene ? 

What does this scene seem to show regarding his feelings 
for Opheha? 

Did Hamlet have any friendship for Laertes? 

Was he able to explain Laertes' hostile demonstrations? 

Did he know anything of the king's new design against 
his life ? 

How did the king warn Laertes that their plot was not 
forgotten ? 

Upon how many persons did Hamlet feel that he could 
rely for true friendship ? 

Scene 2. 

At the opening of the last scene, Hamlet is interrupted 
describing what, to Horatio ? 

What remarks of Hamlet show that he was inchned to 
believe in fatalism? 

Narrate the circumstances whereby Hamlet turned the 
tables upon Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. 

How did he become separated from them ? 

What prompted Hamlet to investigate their papers? 

How did he obtain the royal seal for his forged letter? 

Previous to doing so, had he lacked proof of the purpose 
of their errand ? 



1 88 HAMLET. [act v. 

Had he proof that they themselves were privy to the con- 
tents of the letters of the king ? 

Was their death necessary for his own safety? 

Why did he feel no compunction in dealing with them as 
he did? 

In what way did he show himself less unmerciful in their 
case, than he had previously been to the king? 

Why did he regret his action toward Laertes at the grave 
of Opheha ? 

Who was Osric ? 

What sort of a character was he ? 

What may be said of Hamlet's stopping at this critical 
moment to hold Osric up to ridicule ? 

Did Hamlet and Horatio highly rate Laertes as a swords- 
man? 

What was Horatio's counsel regarding the duel? 

How did Hamlet answer him ? 

Had Hamlet any presentiment about the issue of the 
combat ? 

Contrast Hamlet's speech of reconciliation with Laertes 
and Laertes' reply. 

How did the king carry out his part of the arrangement ? 

What were the terms of the wager upon which Hamlet 
and Laertes were to fight ? 

Describe the course of the duel. 

Why did the king not give more attention to the queen 
after she had drunk of the poisoned cup? 

Did Laertes show any scruple in taking the advantage of 
the prince ? 

Why did Horatio express such surprise at seeing the com- 
batants wounded? 

What fact first aroused in Hamlet's mind suspicion of 
foul play? 



ACT v.] QUESTIONS. 189 

What was Laertes' parting spirit toward Hamlet? 

Did the king, although aware of the nature of the poison 
on the foil, still believe that his wound was not dangerous ? 

Who first died from a wound made by the poisoned foil? 

What was Hamlet's final reference to his mother? 

What feeling did it show? 

What was the meaning of Hamlet's final words to the 
court, " Had I but time," etc. ? 

What was Horatio's first intention when he saw his friend 
about to die? 

Why did Hamlet make him change it? 

What were the prince's parting directions? 

Whom did he name as his successor? 

Was there any reason for his choice ? 

What news had the English ambassadors come to an- 
nounce ? 

Why did Horatio caution speedy announcement of For- 
tinbras' succession? 

What did Fortinbras mean by saying that he had " some 
rights to memory " in the Danish kingdom? 

Was the ultimate killing of the king by Hamlet really in 
furtherance of his father's command, or prompted by sud- 
den frenzy? 

Trace the calamities which have succeeded one another 
since Hamlet's failure to take advantage of his opportunity 
to kill the king in the third scene of the third act. 



190 , HAMLET. [ACT V. 

OBSERVATIONS. 

Scene i. 

"Horatio is the only complete man in the play, — solid, 
well-knit, and true ; a noble, quiet nature, with that highest 
of all qualities, judgment; always sane and prompt. . . . 
He seems one of those calm, undemonstrative men whom 
we love and admire without asking to know why, crediting 
them with the capacity of great things without any test of 
actual achievement, because we feel that their manhood is 
a constant quahty, and no mere accident of circumstance 
and opportunity. Such men are always sure of the pres- 
ence of their highest self on demand. ... I do not beheve 
that Horatio ever thought he ' was not a pipe for Fortune's 
finger to play what stop she please,' till Hamlet told him so. 
. . . He is unconscious of his own peculiar qualities, as 
men of decision commonly are, or they would not be men 
of decision. When there is a thing to be done, they go 
straight at it, and for the time there is nothing for them in the 
whole universe but themselves and their object." — Lowell. 

" The play is hardly consistent with respect to Hamlet's 
age. In Act V., Sc. i, 1. 155-19 1, it is stated that he is 
thirty years old, while in the first Act he is spoken of as still 
quite youthful ; yet only a few months have elapsed in the 
interval of time between the beginning and the end of the 
action. His profoundly reflective soliloquies point to an 
age certainly past early youth." — Dowden. 

Scene 2. 

Moberley thinks from Hamlet's words, " Ere I could make 
a prologue to my brains," etc., as he was describing to 



ACT v.] FAMILIAR PASSAGES. 19 1 

Horatio the story of Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, that 
his sending the courtiers to their doom was a matter of sud- 
den rashness ; if he had had the opportunity of changing 
them again, and if the pirates had not cut them asunder, he 
would probably have repented and cancelled the orders. 

White, in his " Studies in Shakespeare," observes how 
negligent of his duty the prince is, when in the midst of all 
his troubles and distress, he becomes so envious of Laertes' 
reputation as a swordsman that he frequently wishes he 
might challenge him ; " and he, the sworn avenger of his 
father, he who had a kingdom at stake, kept himself well in 
practice for a bout with foils." 

" A lovely, pure, noble, and highly moral being, without 
the strength of mind that forms a hero, sinks beneath a load 
which it cannot bear and must not renounce. He views 
every duty as holy, but this one is too much for him. He 
is called upon to do what is impossible ; not impossible in 
itself, but impossible to him. And as he turns and winds 
and torments himself, still advancing and retreating, ever 
reminded and remembering his purpose, he almost loses 
sight of it completely, without ever recovering his happi- 
ness." — Goethe, in " Wilhelm Meister'' 



192 HAMLET. 

FAMILIAR PASSAGES. 

Scene i. 

" Cudgel thy brains no more about it." 

" Has this fellow no feeling of his business? " 

" A politician — one that would circumvent God." 

" Alas poor Yorick ! I knew him, Horatio : a fellow of infinite jest, 
of most excellent fancy : he hath borne me on his back a thousand 
times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge 
rises at it. Here hung these lips that I have kissed I know not how 
oft. Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your 
flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not 
one now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen? Now get 
you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to 
this favour she must come; make her laugh at that." 

"To what base uses we may return, Horatio ! Why may not imagi- 
nation trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping a 
bung-hole? " 

" Imperious Caesar, dead and turn'd to clay, 

Might stop a hole to keep the wind away." 
" Sweets to the sweet : farewell ! " 

Scene 2. 

** There's a divinity that shapes our ends, 
Rough-hew them how we will." 

" It did me yeoman's service." 

" Tis the breathing time of day with me." 

" A hit, a very palpable hit." 

" This fell sergeant, death, 
Is strict in his arrest." 

" Report me and my cause aright." 

" I am more an antique Roman than a Dane." 

"The rest is silence." 



GENERAL QUESTIONS UPON THE PLAY. 



Where was Elsinore, the scene of the opening of the play? 

What famous scene in " Macbeth," in which the minds 
of the actors, after being under extreme tension, are sud- 
denly interrupted by sounds from the outer world, just as 
in Act I., Scene i, the unearthly atmosphere is suddenly 
dispelled by the crowing of the cock? Compare them. 

Show the marked contrast between the opening of "Mac- 
beth " and that of " Hamlet." 

What was the deportment of Bernardo and Marcellus 
upon the first two occasions of their seeing the ghost, be- 
fore they committed the secret to Horatio? 

Show, from internal evidence of the play, that it was not 
an unprecedented thing in Hamlet's time for a king's 
brother to succeed to the throne, even when the deceased 
monarch was survived by male issue. 

From what is presented of Ophelia in the scene wherein 
she is first brought forward (Act I., Scene 3), what conflict- 
ing views may be formed of her character? 

Richard Grant White argues strongly against Hamlet's 
being a delicate, feeble person, as he is frequently por- 
trayed, and believes him to have been a young man of 
splendid physique. The fourth scene of the first act fur- 
nishes him one of the strongest proofs of this theory. From 
what part does he draw his evidence ? 

193 



194 HAMLET. 

Where in the second scene of the same act is a passage 
which has led the above critic to conjecture that Hamlet was 
dark haired, on the assumption that he resembles his father ? 

Show how in Act I., Scene 5, the theory is illustrated, 
that the terrible is always in close touch with the ludicrous. 

Show that the story in the first act has been drawn with a 
view to climax. 

How is the difference between ancient and modern civili- 
zation shown by the episode of young Fortinbras, related by 
the ambassadors in the second act ? 

What selfish purpose may have prompted Polonius to op- 
pose, as he did, Hamlet's affection for Ophelia? 

What meaning may be intended by the words of Hamlet 
to Polonius : " For if the sun breed maggots in a dead 
dog," etc. ? 

What could Hamlet have meant by saying to his two 
friends (Act II., Scene 2) : ''Shall we to the court? for, by 
my fay, I cannot reason"? 

Was there any hesitation or unwillingness on Ophelia's 
part in undertaking an interview with Hamlet, the king and 
Polonius being unseen witnesses ? 

How is her action to be accounted for? 

The scene in the third act where Hamlet refuses to kill 
the king, whom he has found ■♦ praying in the oratory, is 
sometimes termed the " climax of the entire play." Show 
the reason why it has been so called. 

At this point in the play, what characters are arrayed 
against Hamlet in one way or another? 

Why may we believe that the king did not feel convinced 
of Hamlet's madness when the queen reported the inter- 
view with her son, during which Polonius had been slain? 
(Act IV., Scene i.) 



GENERAL QUESTIONS. 1 95 

In what way does Hamlet's willingness to accompany 
.Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to England present one of 
the crises of the play? 

In the fifth scene of Act IV. what circumstance would 
lead us to believe that Hamlet could easily have gained 
possession of the Danish kingdom if he had had the deter- 
mination to kill the king? 

When Hamlet became the man of action, did his action 
arise from premeditation or occasion? Illustrate. 

What explanation may be given for the tardiness in pre- 
paring the grave of Ophelia ? 

What fact shows that there was tardiness ? 

What incident in the closing scene showed that Hamlet, 
almost at the very moment of his death, was a young man 
of great power and strength? 

Were there any of the number who met with violent 
deaths throughout the play that were not 

*' Unhousel'd, disappointed, unaneled"? 

How did the king show that he fully realized Hamlet's 
fault of procrastination and feared no immediate danger, 
even when he learned that the prince had returned to Den- 
mark from his voyage to England ? 

What reference to changes on the stage of his own time 
does Shakespeare introduce in the second act? 

What is Goethe's famous opinion and estimate of the 
character of Hamlet? (See Observation, Act I., Scene 5.) 

With what ground could Schlegel say that Hamlet was 
" open in the highest degree to an enthusiastic admiration 
of that excellence in others of which he himself is deficient"? 

What censure has sometimes been made for an incongru- 
ity in Hamlet's speaking of the other world as " the undis- 



196 HAMLET. 

covered country, from whose bourn no traveller returns," 
since this is contradicted by an event in the play? 

Mention any anachronisms in the play? 

What famous scene and passage of " Macbeth " is sug- 
gested by the king's words. Act III., Scene 3? — 

" What if this cursed hand 
Were thicker than itself with brother's blood. 
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens 
To wash it white as snow? " 

How does Hamlet's character show resemblance to that 
of his mother? 

How to his father ? 

How, likewise, do the characters of Ophelia and Laer- 
tes illustrate heredity? 

What victory is mentioned as having been achieved by 
the Danes upon the day when the prince was born ? 

If Shakespeare intended the tragedy of "Hamlet" to 
illustrate any moral, what was the moral? 



What was the date of the earliest edition of "Hamlet"? 

Whence is it generally supposed that Shakespeare drew 
the plot? 

When he wrote this tragedy, did he follow in every re- 
spect the plot of the original? 

Does "Hamlet" belong to Shakespeare's earlier or later 
writings ? 

What are sometimes called his "Four Great Tragedies"? 



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